Indonesia Already Has Bioethanol Fuel, Here's the Price at Petrol Stations

President Prabowo Subianto is aggressively pushing the development of bioethanol-based biofuels, targeting Indonesia to follow in the footsteps of India and Brazil in utilising ethanol as a petrol blend. Speaking during a nationwide harvest event in Malang, East Java, Prabowo stated that Indonesia currently has the capability to move towards E10, a fuel consisting of 10% ethanol, and even has the potential to increase the blend to E20. “We need factories. Currently, we only have one factory, so I have decided we will build a minimum of 30 factories, perhaps up to 50,” he said. Prabowo compared Indonesia’s progress with other nations, noting that India has already implemented E20, while Brazil uses E100, or pure ethanol fuel. Amidst these efforts, Indonesia has already commercially introduced E5 fuel through Pertamina’s Pertamax Green 95, a RON 95 equivalent. The price of Pertamax Green 95 was set at Rp16,600 per litre as of 1 August 2026, down from Rp17,000 per litre in July 2026. CEO of Pertamina New & Renewable Energy, John Anis, affirmed the company’s readiness to support the government’s accelerated bioethanol development targets. He noted that the current E5 implementation is limited to approximately 170 Pertamina outlets in East Java and Jakarta. Anis explained that Pertamina is developing bioethanol from various raw materials, including sugarcane, palm sugar, cassava, corn, and sorghum. He estimated that meeting national demand would require 20 to 30 new bioethanol plants within the next two years, a move he argued would boost farmers’ welfare and reduce imports. Pertamina stressed the need for mandatory regulations and guaranteed raw material pricing to ensure the bioethanol ecosystem can function effectively.