TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Enny Sri Hartati, the director of the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef), said the RON 90 gasoline—dubbed Pertalite—that state-owned Pertamina planned to launch should be cheaper than Premium gasoline.

“When the government launches Pertalite with a price higher than Premium’s, it means gas mafias still exist,” she said at Sari Pan Pasific Hotel in Jakarta on Thursday.

Enny said Premium gasoline, or RON 88, was the main cause of Pertamina’s inefficiency thus far, saying that imported oil with research octane number (RON) 90 or 92 had to be downgraded to RON 88 to produce Premium gasoline.

“Downgrading RON needs more costs and can only be done in Singapore,” she said.

Thus, she said the price of RON 90 should be lower than Premium’s, allowing for its competitive price as its supplies could be obtained from multiple countries, such as those in the Middle East and Africa, and because it was more cost-efficient as it did not require RON downgrading.

According to her, the public would not have any problem purchasing non-subsidized gasoline, in this case Pertalite, as long as it was cheaper than Premium but with quality surpassing the latter.

“The public wouldn’t mind, as long as their fuel demands are met, not to mention if the government can sell Pertalite with a price lower than Premium’s but with quality above Premium,” she said.

To date, Pertamina has yet to determine the price of Pertalite. Pertamina president director Dwi Sutjipto, however, said earlier that the price of Pertalite would be higher than Premium's and below Pertamax’s. He also said that Pertalite would be another option of gasoline for the public, as opposed to a replacement to Premium, which so far had still been the public’ gasoline of choice.

ANTARA