Pertamina starts sales of B5

State-owned oil firm PT Pertamina has begun selling modest volumes of high-octane gasoline blended with 5% ethanol (B5) in Jakarta. Indonesia said it will develop more biofuels so as to reduce its subsidy on several oil products by 10% by 2010. Pertamina sells most products in the retail market at highly subsidized rates, but fuel for industry and two types of retail high-octane gasoline, “Pertamax” and “Pertamax Plus” are not subsidized by the government. Though Indonesia is an oil producing country, it has been importing crude oil and oil products due to inadequate local supply. In December, the country imported 10.9 million barrels of oil products, up 4.6% year-on-year. (December 11, 2006)