REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, By: Satya Festiani
Pertamina recently launched a new type of fuel, named Pertalite. With octane level of 90, Pertalite has better quality than Premium that has octane level of 88. However, the quality of Pertalite is below Pertamax with octane level of 92.
The price of Pertalite is also in between the price of Premium and Pertamax. For the promo price, Pertamina determined the Pertalite price at Rp 8,400 per liter. It was Rp 900 cheaper than Pertamax and Rp 1,000 more expensive than Premium.
Pertamina claimed that the actual economic price is Rp 8,700 per liter. This price can go up and down following the price of petroleum market indices of Singapore (MOPS) and the exchange rate against the US dollar. So, if the price of MOPS is down, the Pertalite price is not necessarily down. Moreover, when the exchange rate is being weakened.
Pertalite pricing can not be controlled by the government, just like Premium. The price is not stated in Presidential Decree 191/2014, because the type of fuel that is regulated in the regulation are kerosene, solar, and and gasoline Ron 88. The Presidential Decree mentioned that in order to provide and distributed the fuel, the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources set a base price and the retail price of fuel.
As quoted from Cabinet Secretary page, the basic price consists of acquisition costs, distribution costs, storage costs, and margins. The acquisition cost is the cost of supplying fuel from domestic refinery productions and imports, by using the market index price.
The retail price, according to the Presidential Decree, is basic price with Value Added Tax (VAT) and Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax (PBBKB). Meanwhile, the retail price is in accordance with the local provincial regulations.
Because it does not rely on the regulation, Pertamina can determine the prices and regulate the profits, as Pertamina does for the price of Pertamax.
Despite its position in the midst, it does not mean that the production was derived from mixing of Premium and Pertamax. Pertamina claimed that Pertalite was produced by mixing high octane mogas component (HOMC) with an excess of naphtha. So that it would reduce imports.
During this time, to produce Premium, Indonesia imported RON 92 or 90 fuel which was then mixed with naphtha in order the RON to be 88. For Pertamax, the most of the fuel was imported and some others were produced in refineries in Indonesia.
On June 2015, Indonesia imported oil to 2.58 billion US dollars. The number increased by 23.89 percent from the previous month. It was caused by the increase in crude oil imports into 269.3 million US dollars and oil products imports into 266.9 million US dollars.
Fortunately, the increase in imports has not made the trade balance into deficit, because the oil and gas exports in June also increased by 6.27 percent compared to May, to become 1.46 billion US dollars. The increase in exports was also driven by the increase in exports of crude oil and oil products.
Compared to June last year, the oil imports became fewer. Indonesia imported oil up to 3.39 billion US dollars in June 2014.
However, it seems that not all authorities stated that the Pertalite will reduce imports. Former Coordinating Minister, Sofyan Djalil, even mentioned that this special fuel will make imports rose. He reasoned, imports will rise, because the Pertalite was a result of mixing of lower octane to the higher one.
Currently the citizens response to Pertalite is good enough. On the second day after the launching, a lot of people bought this new type of fuel. Could the Pertalite reduce imports or it was just the only way to reduce losses due to the Premium price which still be controlled by the government?
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