By Bernadette Christina
NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) -Indonesia will start road testing vehicles using biodiesel with palm oil content of 50% in early December as the government considers whether to implement the “B50” mandate only in certain sectors, energy ministry official Eniya Listiani Dewi said on Thursday.
The government aims to introduce the B50 standard in the second half of next year, raising palm oil content from 40% this year in an effort to reduce its reliance on imported fuel.
The tests will also be carried out on train engines, ships, mining equipment and generators, she said on the sidelines of an industry conference held on the resort island of Bali.
Eniya said the government will carefully review all aspects of B50 implementation, including technical issues, pricing and the availability of supply for the palm oil-based fuel, and will be transparent about its findings.
The government is considering whether to only implement B50 in so-called public service obligation sectors (PSO) such as public transport as well as some logistics facilities, due to concerns about Indonesia’s limited biodiesel production capacity.
“We had discussions on the possibility of increasing the blending to 50% for the PSO and reducing it for non-PSO sectors – we’ll examine that,” Eniya said.
“The challenge is in the upstream sector. We can’t implement simultaneously at 50%,” she added.
(Reporting by Bernadette Christina MuntheWriting by Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by David Stanway)
