The minister informed that the head of state gave the instructions during a meeting at the Presidential Palace the same day.
“Mr. President has instructed us to pursue it. This is part of the optimization of low-calorie coal to become DME, which we will use," the minister said following the meeting.
He explained that the efforts for such downstreaming were a part of measures to reduce the dependency on imported products, specifically in terms of meeting the liquified petroleum gas (LPG) demand.
"Because we still import about six to seven million tons annually. And slowly, we will reduce the import rate by substituting (LPG with) DME," Lahadalia added.
The meeting on Tuesday discussed the recent developments in the coal-to-DME downstreaming project carried out by PT Bukit Asam, PT Pertamina, and Air Products and Chemicals in Muara Enim district in South Sumatra, he informed.
According to Minister Lahadalia, currently, a presidential regulation is being prepared, which he believes would be completed in the near future.
"There are only calculations about carbon that are still unclear, so it will be finished soon," he said.
On January 24, 2022, President Jokowi announced that the project for the development of coal-to-DME downstreaming in Muara Enim, South Sumatra, had officially started.
At that time, he had stressed that once the project concludes and DME is adopted as an energy source, the allocation for LPG subsidy can be reduced and some Rp60 trillion to Rp70 trillion (up to US$4.5 billion) of the state budget can be saved.
Domestic demand for LPG is valued at Rp100 trillion (US$6.5 billion). Of that, Rp80 trillion (US$5.2 billion) worth of LPG is imported.
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Translator: Gilang Galiartha, Mecca Yumna
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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