Pertamina eyes buying ethanol from Medco

Indonesian state-owned oil and gas company, PT Pertamina may buy ethanol from publicly traded Medco Energi for blending into gasoline as it tries to expand sales of its BioPremium brand fuel, a senior company official said. The fuel is a blend containing 95-98% 88 RON gasoline and 2-5% ethanol. Pertamina is targeting sales of 4,500-6,000 kiloliters (kl) per month of BioPremium in Jakarta. The company is currently able to sell only 310 kl per month of the fuel in Malang, Pertamina’s vice president of retail, Djaelani Sutomo said. Indonesia is promoting the use of alternative energy in a bid to cut the country’s dependency on crude oil. (August 22, 2008)