Unleaded gasoline introduced

Unleaded gasoline introduced

JAKARTA (JP): State-owned oil company Pertamina introduced
yesterday unleaded gasoline, called Super TT, with a retail price
of Rp 1,000 (US$0.44) per liter, including the 10 percent value
added tax.

"This is part of the government's program to decrease air
pollution and provide the motorists with an alternative," the
company's president, Faisal Abda'oe, told reporters after the
launching ceremony.

He said that the unleaded gasoline is produced by the
country's first export-oriented refinery, called Exor I, at
Balongan, West Java.

The Balongan refinery which was dedicated by President
Soeharto on May 24, has a daily processing capacity of 125,000
barrels and produces a wide variety of oil products.

PT Elnusa, a subsidiary of Pertamina, has been appointed the
sole distributor of 50,000 liters of unleaded gasoline per year
for the Jakarta market only.

Abda'oe said the possibility of involving private companies to
distribute the unleaded gasoline is still open.

"We may invite private companies which belong to the Premix
distributor union," he said.

Elnusa's president, Azwad Dipo, said that the company would
initially concentrate on the marketing of unleaded gasoline in
the capital city.

"In the future, we may expand our market to other major
cities," he said.

He acknowledged that the price of unleaded gasoline is more
expensive than regular gasoline, which is sold throughout the
country at Rp 700 per liter and the higher-quality gasoline,
Premix, at Rp 870 per liter.

Dipo said that Elnusa had set up seven unleaded gasoline
filling stations in Jakarta.

The chairman of the Indonesian Automotive Industry
Association, Herman Z. Latief, said that the unleaded gasoline is
suitable for Japanese cars which were made after 1983.

"The engines of the automotive vehicles produced after 1983
were designed for the environment-friendly gasoline," he
said.(04)