President Prabowo’s New Instruction to Accelerate Downstream Program

Jakarta – The government is accelerating the downstream program by expanding the construction of refineries and other supporting facilities.

This was the focus of a limited meeting chaired by President Prabowo Subianto at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, on Monday evening, March 10, 2025.

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Bahlil Lahadalia, who attended the meeting, explained that the government has changed the refinery development plan.

Initially, the capacity of the refinery to be built was 500,000 barrels per day, but now it has been increased to 1 million barrels per day.

“We will build around 1 million barrels later, and we will do it in several places, both in Kalimantan, Java, Sulawesi, and Maluku-Papua so that there is equal distribution,” Bahlil said, quoted on Tuesday, March 11, 2025.

He continued, the government will also build a storage facility with a capacity of 1 million barrels per day.

Meanwhile, in the energy sector, the government is also encouraging the development of dimethyl ether (DME) as an LPG substitute, as well as expanding downstreaming in the fisheries, plantation, and forestry sectors.

“Especially for coal minerals, apart from bauxite, we will also push the issue of nickel and tin. Another one, we will build solar panels and quartz sand which we will attract to be part of critical minerals, because this is a potential comparative advantage for our nation,” Bahlil said.

hile in a separate place, Minister of Investment and Downstream Rosan Roeslani affirmed that the government continues to encourage investment in mature downstream projects.

The government is also open to foreign investors and national businesses to invest in projects that are ready to run.

“In essence, we will evaluate independently and then look at all aspects, of course from the aspect of how much return, how much profit, from the aspect of reducing imports, especially those related to energy, and also the last one is job creation,” Rosan said.

Apart from being oriented towards economic benefits, the downstream project is also directed to be in line with the government’s target of achieving net zero emissions by 2060.

“Of course, this is also in line with the industrialization that we want to achieve so that these projects become sustainable projects and at the same time, the emissions are better,” Rosan concluded. (*)

Editor: Galih Pratama