JakartaPost-Jan 21
President Prabowo Subianto has vowed to stop fuel imports by the end of his presidency in 2029, and though he was short on details, he said the country had the potential to make this happen. In recent months, the President has asked his aides to boost oil and gas production as well as biofuel production, particularly palm-oil based biodiesel. “I trust that in the not-too-distant future, we [Indonesia] will no longer import fuel oil. I am confident that in five years, we will no longer import fuel oil,” Prabowo said in his remarks on Monday at the inauguration of the 110-megawatt (MW) Jatigede hydroelectric power plant in Sumedang, West Java. During the Group of 20 Summit in Brazil on Nov. 19, he vowed to phase out all fossil fuel power plants, including coal, in the next 15 years. Environmentalists have meanwhile warned about the risks of converting vast tracts of land to cultivate energy crops such as sugarcane and corn. In Monday’s speech, the President reiterated his priority agenda to achieve food self-sufficiency in less than two years since his inauguration on Oct. 20, 2024. Prabowo has vowed to boost domestic oil and gas production as part of his self-sufficiency drive, but experts and businesses foresee major obstacle to achieving that goal. His policy stance also includes limiting the country’s dependence on imported fuel by offering dozens of new oil and gas concessions to investors in the coming years. According to the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, the government is also planning to reactivate idle oil wells to reduce costly oil shipments from overseas. During the ceremony on Monday, Prabowo inaugurated 37 national strategic projects (PSN), including 26 power plants with a combined capacity of 3.2 gigawatts (GW) and an investment value of Rp 72 trillion (US$4.39 billion), initiated during the term of his predecessor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. While the majority of the power plants are fueled by renewable energy or gas, a number are powered by coal. The remaining 11 PSN comprise electricity transmission infrastructure, such as substations. Read more at: https://www.thejakartapost.com/business/2025/01/21/prabowo-vows-no-more-fuel-imports-by-end-of-his-presidency.html.
