Jakarta (VNA) - The Indonesian Government aims to be free from oil imports starting from 2026, an official has said.

To support the Government’s plans, the State-owned energy producer PT Pertamina will build two oil refineries in Bontang in East Kalimantan and Tuban in East Java as well as develop refinery capacity at existing plants in Dumai, Balikpapan, Balongan, and Cilacap.

Mohammad Hidayat from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources said that based on a fuel supply and demand prognosis for 2020-2026, production has been estimated at 87.4 million kiloliters (KL) while demand is growing 3.16 percent annually and will reach 85.1 million KL.

The prognosis is based on the availability of existing data and refinery projects being built and completed in what year, and how much production can meet domestic fuel needs, he said last week.

He went on to say that fuel production from domestic refineries will remain stagnant in 2020-2021 while demand continues to grow. There will be additional fuel production from Balongan in 2022 and fuel imports are estimated at 25.9 million KL and domestic fuel production at 47.8 million KL, while fuel demand is estimated at 74.7 million KL.

The completion of the Balikpapan project in 2023 is expected to contribute to additional fuel production of 57.5 million KL and help imports fall slightly, to 25 million KL, he added. Fuel demand is projected at 77.3 million.

Fuel demand in 2024 stands at 80 million KL, fuel production at 57.5 million KL, and imports at 25.9 million KL.

Fuel imports are forecast to decline sharply in 2025 when demand expands to 82.5 million KL and fuel production reaches 68.1 million KL and imports 13.4 million KL. The decline in imports is due to additional production from the Bontang refinery.

Additional production is expected from Cilacap and Tuban in 2026./.
VNA