Indonesia has been one of oil-producing countries in the world, and in fact produces 1.2 % of crude oil in the total volume of oil production in the world. The export of crude oil, however, is lessening today. After 2004 Indonesia became an oil-importing country. In 2006 Indonesia consumed 60 million kℓ of crude oil, 50 % of which was used in the transport sector.

Besides Indonesia is known to be No.1 in palm oil production, sharing 44.5 % in the world. In 2008, 20.25 million ton of palm oil was produced from 7 million hectare of palm plantation, and 80 % of which was exported. Palm oil stands as one of important export items of Indonesia.

Lately Indonesia started to produce biodiesel from palm oil, by establishing 22 factories that produced 1,000 ton of biodiesel in 2006, expanding rapidly to 360,000 ton by 2007. In April 2010, Indonesian Government fixed the subsidy for biofuel (diesel oil containing 2.5 % of biodiesel) to be 2,000 Rupiah (20 yen) per liter. The subsidy will be allocated to 777,075 kℓ of biodiesel.

In order to reduce import of crude oil, the government is making effort to promote development and use of various kinds of renewable energy represented by biofuels. Especially, it is fostering biodiesel industry taking advantage of the country’s status as No. 1 in the world of palm oil production.

Indonesia designated “National Plan on Biofuel” in 2006. The plan dictates that, by 2025, the production of biodiesel to be raised up to 10.22 million kℓ that would be mixed with diesel oil at 20 % ratio, and that, likewise, production bioethanol to be raised up to 6.28 million kℓ that would be mixed with premium gasoline at 15 % ratio.

Table  Indonesia’s National Plan on Biofuel

Fig.  Indonesia’s National Plan on Biofuel

Sources:
1) “Indonesia Handbook 2008” by Jakarta Japan Club, 2) The Report Indonesia 2009, 3)The Jakarta Post, 4) Japan Vegetable Oil Association (http://www.oil.or.jp/)  et al