With a New Refinery, Bahlil is Optimistic Fuel Imports Can Be Reduced This Year

KatadataOTO – Bahlil Lahadalia, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), revealed that Indonesia's dependence on imported fuel will decrease. This is because the government will operate the Balikpapan Refinery Development Master Plan (RDMP) project.

With this, domestic fuel consumption can be met independently. This is because the production volume is quite large.

“Once the Balikpapan RDMP Refinery is officially operational, diesel imports will be stopped. This is done to promote energy sovereignty and no longer rely on imported fuel,” said Bahlil in his official statement (13/01).

He revealed that Indonesia's diesel demand is 39.8 million kiloliters per year. Of this amount, the B40 program contributes a supply of Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME) of 15.9 million kiloliters (kl) per year.

Photo: Courtesy

Thus, the remaining need for pure diesel is 23.9 million kl per year, while current national production is 26.5 million kl per year. With this, the government is targeting to stop diesel imports starting mid-2026 for both CN 48 and CN 51 products.

Meanwhile, for gasoline, the national demand reaches about 38.5 million kiloliters per year. This figure consists of 28.9 million kl per year of RON 90 gasoline, 8.7 million kl per year of RON 92, and about 650 thousand kl per year of RON 95 and RON 98.

The Balikpapan RDMP Refinery itself can increase RON 90 gasoline production by up to 5.8 million kl per year. With this additional capacity, imports of RON 92, RON 95, and RON 98 gasoline can be reduced by up to 3.6 million kl per year.

"In the future, through the implementation of E10, we can save on imports by up to 3.9 million kl per year. Then, through further refinery development, imports of RON 92, 95, and 98 gasoline can be stopped while also reducing imports of RON 90 gasoline," Bahlil affirmed.

Photo: Antara

It should be noted that the Balikpapan RDMP has main facilities, namely the Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) and the Residual Fluid Catalytic Cracking (RFCC). With the CDU being the heart of the Balikpapan refinery, the refinery's capacity, which was originally 260 thousand barrels, can now be increased to 360 thousand barrels of oil per day.

This project is also integrated with two giant Lawe-lawe storage tanks with a total capacity of 2 million barrels and the Tanjung Batu Fuel Terminal of 125 thousand kiloliters.