In order to support the government’s policy to optimize the utilization of natural gas as a domestic fuel, the Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) held its 11th Natural Gas Vehicle & Infrastructure Indonesia Forum and Exhibition a few weeks ago in Jakarta. The event was hosted by the Indonesian CNG Association (APCNGI) and endorsed by the Asia Pacific Natural Gas Vehicles Association (ANGVA).
Carrying the tagline “Gas Fuel for Indonesia” the event opened with a natural gas vehicle (NGV) Road Show, by releasing 15 gas-fueled vehicles from a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Mobile Refueling Unit (MRU) at Irti Monas for a journey around Jakarta. The flag-off was conducted by Dr. Archandra Tahar, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of Indonesia. After the flag-off, delegates went for site visits to PT Pertamina and PT PGN NGV Refuelling stations.
During his keynote address, Minister HE Ignatius Jonan (ESDM) mentioned that the Ministry was considering the formation of a directive that all petrol service stations in Indonesia (estimated to be around 5,000) be required to have one natural gas dispenser (or LPG in areas where there is no natural gas supply) for vehicles. For that purpose, the Minister invited the NGV industry to provide input.
APCNGI President Danny Praditya
Following the keynote address by the Minister, the President of ANGVA and NGV Global Board member, Mr. Danny Praditya, provided a brief presentation on ANGVA and the state of the NGV markets in the Asia Pacific region and Indonesia.
ANGVA’s Executive Director, Lee Giok Seng, lists the following Forum presentation highlights:
- PT Pertamina will soon own 57 CNG stations – 19 in operations (12 online stations and 7 MRUs), 19 under construction and 18 to be put into operation as soon as some nontechnical issues were resolved.
- In 2016, Pertamina, under a government-funded programme, provided 1000 free conversion kits and this year another 3,000 free conversion kits will be provided to convert vehicles to CNG to boost Government efforts to substitute use of gasoline with natural gas. Pertamina is aiming to have 200 stations in operation by 2030.
- PT PGN Gagas owns and operates 15 CNG stations (10 online stations and 5 MRUs). This year PT PGN Gagas will be providing 2,000 free conversion kits to Public Transport and Government vehicles to boost the consumption of CNG in their stations. This was part of the efforts to achieve the Government of Indonesia’s plan to have 20% of fuel consumption by the Transport Sector in Indonesia to be natural gas.
- PT Jakarta Utilitas Propertindo (Jakpro), a company owned by the City of Jakarta and involving in the Utility and Energy business, has 10 CNG stations – 7 online stations and 3 MRUs. Jakpro ventured into the CNG market to fulfill the directives issued by the City of Jakarta relating to the use of natural gas in public transport and government vehicles to control the emission of harmful gases from vehicles plying the city. This included the use of CNG buses by Jakarta Busway. The public transportation provider operated 500 CNG buses in 2016 and plans to have 800 CNG buses in operation by the year 2018.
- Blue Bird Taxi Company of Indonesia, one of the earliest taxi companies to start using CNG in Indonesia reported that to-date they had 573 CNG taxis in operation under the Government of Indonesia free conversion kit programme. Blue Bird Taxi would like to convert more of their taxis to CNG if the government, among others can continue to provide free kits or subsidize the purchase of conversion kits; ensure there are enough CNG stations; ensure the price of CNG compared to gasoline stayed around 55% cheaper and ensure good quality CNG is supplied.
- One of the major issues faced by Blue Bird is that vehicle manufacturers withdrew their vehicle warranties once the vehicles were converted to CNG.
This week, State gas company PGN opened a new gas fuel refilling station in Klender, East Jakarta. The unit is Klender is PGN’s 11th online gas fuel station.
(Source: ANGVA)
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