Indonesia starts construction of US$2.3b coal gasification plant

[JAKARTA] Indonesian President Joko Widodo launched construction of a US$2.3 billion coal gasification plant on Monday (Jan 24), in a bid to slash the country's liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) imports while optimising its coal resources.

The plant is designed to utilise 6 million tonnes of low rank coal to produce 1.4 tonnes of dimethyl ether annually, which can reduce Indonesia's LPG import by 1 million tonnes per year, according to state coal miner Bukit Asam, which is building the plant in partnership with US firm Air Products and Chemicals.

In 2021, Indonesia consumed 7.95 million tonnes of LPG, 6.4 million tonnes of which were imported, government data showed.

"We can reduce a subsidy from the state budget by around 7 trillion rupiah (US$489 million), while improving our trade balance and our current account deficit," said Jokowi, as the president is popularly known.

Indonesia allocated 66.3 trillion rupiah (S$6.2 billion) in the 2022 budget to subsidise some domestic LPG consumption.

Indonesia's LPG imports are expected to decline by 6 times in 2025 from current levels, as it seeks to ramp up coal gasification, which is on a government "priority" investment list offering incentives such as tax breaks.

The plant is in Muara Enim, South Sumatra, a mining hub of state coal miner Bukit Asam. Construction is slated to take 30 months and state energy company Pertamina is expected to use gas produced from the plant.

REUTERS