Jakarta – The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR) said that the consumption of the biofuel from crude palm oil (CPO) will increase next year to 10.15 million kiloliters, as compared to this year target of consumption at 9.41 million kiloliters.

The MEMR stated in a press release on Wednesday that the biofuel consumption projection in 2022 is based on several factors, which include the realized biofuel consumption in 2021, the import volume of diesel fuel, and the growth assumption of diesel fuel demand at 5.5 percent next year.

The biofuel production is based on the government’s mandatory production of biofuel 30 percent (B30), which is a mixture of 30 percent fatty acid methyl esters (derived from CPO) and 70 percent diesel fuel. The mandatory policy is aimed to cut the import of diesel fuel and help reduce carbon emissions as part of efforts to tackle the climate change problem.

The ministry had assigned 22 companies to distribute the required biofuel supply next year. Having a total installed capacity of 15.49 million kiloliters, these companies produce about 13.53 million kiloliters per year.

It has also stated that it had allocated extra biofuel supply of 213,033 kiloliters to meet the local need until the end of this year, which will increase biofuel consumption projection this year from the original target of 9.2 million kiloliters to 9.41 million kiloliters.

The MEMR New and Renewable  Energy Director General Dadan Kusdiana said that the extra supply is needed to anticipate higher demand as the public and industries have resumed their economic activities following the receding cases of Covid-19 pandemic.  (*)

Source: JAKARTADAILY.ID