From Biodiesel, DME to Carbon Capture, PT Pertamina realizes sustainable green economy

Jakarta (ANTARA) - In the framework to run the direction of the President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) regarding the Grand National Energy Strategy for energy transformation and strengthening green economy, green technology and green products, PT Pertamina (Persero) continues to prioritize various energy transition programs towards new and renewable energy by utilizing the abundant energy sources in Indonesia and optimize the infrastructures of existing business.

President Director & CEO of Pertamina Nicke Widyawati said that currently Indonesia is still facing challenges to overcome the Current Account Deficit due to high energy imports. On the other hand, Indonesia has large domestic resources that can be used as raw material for the production of energy. Pertamina already has three priority programs as part of the implementation of the energy transition and the green economy.

The first, program to reduce imports of diesel fuel by the implementation of Biodiesel B20 since 2016 and continued with B30 in 2019. “With this program, Pertamina has succeeded in reducing diesel imports significantly. Even started April 2019, Pertamina will no longer import diesel fuel, ” she said.

The second, to reduce the dependence on LPG imports, Pertamina is running a coal gasification project into Dimethyl Ether (DME), that will replace the use of LPG in the country.

“Indonesia, one of the countries with the largest coal reserves, has a good opportunity to gasify coal into DME. We are sure that the development of this DME can achieve the government's target to be free of LPG imports by 2027,” she said.

Nicke added that the third program was to reduce imports of Gasoline fuel. Pertamina would mix Methanol and Ethanol with Gasoline. Methanol can be produced from natural gas or coal gasification, and Ethanol can also be produced from coal gasification or the other bio-ethanol sources.

According to her, to ensure the sustainability of existing business lines and to handle the environmental issues from coal gasification, Pertamina is also implementing Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS) technology to push carbon emissions. It is also part of efforts to enhance oil and gas recovery in Pertamina’s wells to increase the country's oil and gas production.

Pertamina is also exploring the potential cooperation with Exxonmobil and is currently conducting a CO2 injection study cooperation in Gundih gas field and in collaboration with several other partners in Sukowati area.