Gov’t to Build 1 Million Barrels of Refinery to Speed up Downstream

Presiden Prabowo Subianto led a limited meeting on Downstream Acceleration at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, on Monday (03/10). (Photo by: BPMI of Presidential Secretariat)

The Indonesian Government has announced it continues to speed up the downstream program by expanding the construction of oil refineries and other supporting facilities.

The issue was discussed in a limited meeting led by President Prabowo Subianto at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, on Monday evening (03/10).

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Bahlil Lahadalia said the Government had made changes to the refinery development plan, adding that the capacity of the refinery was originally planned to be built for 500,000 barrels per day, but has been increased to 1 million barrels per day.

“We will build around 1 million barrels in several places, such as Kalimantan, Java, Sulawesi, and Maluku-Papua for equality,” Bahlil told the media after the meeting.

The Government will also build storage facilities with a capacity of 1 million barrels per day.

Meanwhile, in the energy sector, the Government is also encouraging the development of dimethyl ether (DME) as a substitute for LPG, as well as expanding downstream industries to fisheries, plantation, and forestry sectors.

“Specifically for coal minerals, except bauxite, we will also push nickel and tin production issues. One more thing, we will build solar panels and quartz sand as part of critical minerals because this becomes a potential source of comparative advantage for our nation,” said Bahlil.

Meanwhile, Minister of Investment and Downstream Rosan Roeslani on a separate occasion emphasized that the Government continues to boost investment in mature downstream projects, adding that the Government is also open for foreign and domestic investment to invest in projects ready to execute.

“We will do evaluation independently and will see from all aspects, such as how much the return is, how much the profit is, as well as the aspect of reducing imports like imports related to energy, and job creation,” he said.

In addition to economic profit oriented, this downstream project is also directed to be in line with the Government’s target of achieving net zero emissions by 2060.

“This is also in line with the industrialization that we want to achieve so that these projects can be sustainable with better emissions,” Rosan said.

For the record, the limited meeting is part of the Government’s strategy to speed up industrial downstreaming programs to reduce dependence on imports, increase the added value of natural resources, and create more jobs for the community. (BPMI of Presidential Secretariat) (JAS/EP)