Indonesia targets additional liquefied petroleum gas output, regulator says

JAKARTA : Indonesia aims to raise liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) output by about 1 million metric tons a year to reduce imports of the cooking fuel, the head of the country’s upstream oil and gas regulator said on Tuesday.
New President Prabowo Subianto has pledged to reach energy self-sufficiency through oil and gas production and biofuels, citing rising geopolitical uncertainties that could affect supply.
To reduce LPG imports, Indonesia’s energy minister targets doubling the domestic production of the popular cooking fuel from around 1.7 million tons per year.
Upstream oil and gas regulator SKK Migas has identified 15 gas fields that can potentially supply propane and butane gas to produce an additional 1 million tons of LPG per year, Chairperson Dwi Soetjipton told reporters.
“Within three to four years this must be able to be reached,” he said.
To boost investment into LPG production, the government will make sure that state energy firm Pertamina will offer LPG producers fair pricing in its role as the country’s sole distributor of the fuel.
“The LPG industry has not been developed before due to low selling price to Pertamina, so investors saw this as uneconomical,” Dwi said. “Now, the energy minister has asked to make improvements there.”
Data from the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry showed that Indonesia imported 6.9 million tons of LPG last year out of the 8.7 million tons sold in the domestic market.
Additionally, Dwi said the government is looking into utilising more compressed natural gas as a way to further reduce LPG imports.