Aspelindo welcomes requirement for lubricant quality control
Aspelindo welcomes requirement for lubricant quality control
JAKARTA (JP): The Association of Indonesian Lubricant
Producers (Aspelindo) hailed yesterday a Jan. 12 government
regulation requiring lubricant producers and importers to
register their products with the Ministry of Mines and Energy.
Association chairman AP Batubara said the regulation would
force producers to control the quality of their products.
The regulation will also discourage irresponsible
businesspeople from marketing substandard lubricant products,
Batubara added.
"The association has long been concerned with the abundance of
poor quality lubricants on the domestic market. The producers of
such lubricants have created losses for the public (because the
lubricants) quickly damage their machines," Batubara said.
"They also create losses for investors who produce good
quality lubricants by taking much of the market portion from them
with their cheap lubricants," Batubara said.
Batubara is also the vice president of PT Wiraswasta Gemilang
Indonesia, the country's second largest lubricant producer after
state oil and gas company Pertamina.
Minister of Mines and Energy I.B. Sudjana issued a regulation
on Jan. 12 obliging all lubricant producers and importers to
register their products with the ministry.
"Lubricants which do not carry the so-called lubricant
register mark (produced by the Directorate General of Oil and Gas
of the Ministry of Mines and Energy) should be withdrawn from the
market by the companies (producers)," Sudjana said.
The decree stipulates "imported lubricants, whose marketing is
not conducted by sole distributors, should be registered by the
importers."
Director General of Oil and Gas Soepraptono Soelaiman issued a
decree on Jan. 26 ordering all lubricant producers, importers and
distributors to apply for the lubricant register mark within
three months after the issuance of the ministerial decree.
"Lubricants which already were in the market on the issuance
of the ministerial decree can still be sold and distributed for
one year after the issuance of the decree," Seopraptono stated.
Batubara said there were 144 brands of lubricants in the
market sold at cheap prices with labels not clearly identifying
the producers or distributors.
Such brands control 25 percent of market demand which totals
600,000 tons of lubricants annually.
"Since the identities of the producers are hidden, we strongly
believe the producers must have ill motives. Consumers cannot
complain if the lubricants cause damage to their machines,"
Batubara said.
Members of Aspelindo, founded in July 1997, include
Wiraswasta, which produces Pennzoil and Eva Lube; PT Dirga Buana
Sarana, which produces Valvoline and Union Oil; PT Agip Lubrindo
Pratama; PT Cemerlang Pelumas Prima and PT Panutan Selaras.
Pertamina, the country's largest lubricant producer with its
Mesran brand, will probably join the association in the future,
Batubara said. (jsk)