Pertamina Collaborates With 3 Japanese Companies For Bio-Methane Clean Gas Project

Photo: Pertamina Public Relations Doc

JAKARTA - PT Pertamina (Persero) has agreed to cooperate on a clean bio-methane gas project with three gas companies from Japan, namely Osaka Gas Co., Ltd. (Osaka Gas), JGC Holdings Corporation (JGC), and INPEX CORPORATION (INPEX).

This collaboration agreed to conduct a feasibility study on the production of bio-methane from palm oil mill waste (POME) as clean natural gas and its potential to become liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Indonesia.

Vice President Corporate Communication Pertamina, Heppy Wulansari, said this project is part of the realization of the Asia Energy Transition Initiative2 (AETI) which was launched by the Japanese Government in 2021.

"The aim is to encourage sustainable economic growth while at the same time supporting the achievement of net-zero emissions in the Asian region through the transition to clean energy", she said in an official statement quoted on Friday, May 13.

Heppy added that Indonesia is the largest producer and exporter of palm oil in the world, absorbing three million workers and generating 4.5 percent of GDP.

Palm oil mill effluent contains organic matter which results in significant methane emissions.

Methane has a global warming impact 25 times greater than CO2.

This project is intended as an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from palm oil waste by converting it into biofuel so that it will contribute to the supply of clean energy sustainably.

Through this collaboration, Pertamina and its partners will jointly conduct project feasibility studies, including cooperation in the research and development of technology and solutions related to bio-methane production from POME sources located in Sumatra and Kalimantan.

Later, said Heppy, the production of bio-methane will be channeled through the gas network owned by Pertamina so that it can meet the increasing demand for natural gas and at the same time contribute to reducing emissions.

This collaboration will also examine opportunities to take advantage of carbon credit mechanisms and bio-methane certification schemes to secure carbon neutrality. In addition, this collaboration will also examine marketing opportunities for bio-methane or bio-LNG and bunker fuel, including exports of bio-LNG to Japan and other countries.

"In addition to developing New and Renewable Energy (EBT), this collaboration will help overcome environmental challenges, especially by converting palm oil waste into environmentally friendly energy", said Heppy.

In this collaboration, Heppy added, Pertamina will provide several facilities and study locations in Kalimantan and Sumatra.

She added that this collaboration is expected to help meet natural gas needs in the industrial and household sectors, as well as expand the development of the company's natural gas network.

Osaka Gas emphasized that this collaboration is in line with the Daigas Group Carbon Neutral Vision (CNV) which was launched in January 2021 and aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Under CNV, Osaka Gas will continue to develop technologies and services that contribute to solving social problems such as climate change.

Daigas Group will contribute to this collaboration through bio-methane production technology from biogas, bio-methane pipeline injection, and knowledge of natural gas marketing. The aim is to expand the use of bio-methane in Indonesia and at the same time reduce CO2 emissions in both Indonesia and Japan.

The JGC Group said that this program is an important strategy to unlock the clean energy transition in the Asian region to achieve its medium-term management plan, “Building the Infrastructure of a Sustainable Planet 2025.” JGC will contribute to this collaboration by providing its core competencies in program management and delivering world-class engineering capabilities gained through its rich track record in building gas processing facilities in Indonesia.

INPEX said that through this collaboration it would seek to be proactively involved in reforming the energy structure towards the realization of a net-zero carbon society by 2050.

This is in line with the Long Term Strategy and Medium-Term Business Plan (Vision INPEX @ 2022) which was launched in February 2022.

In line with this strategy, INPEX will work together to build a business framework that contributes to the climate change response and explore opportunities to provide clean LNG bunkering solutions at the Bontang LNG Terminal.