JAKARTA (Oct 29): Indonesia aims to raise liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) output by about one million metric tonnes a year to reduce imports of the cooking fuel, the head of the country's upstream oil and gas regulator said on Tuesday.

New President Prabowo Subianto has pledged to reach energy self-sufficiency through oil and gas production and biofuels, citing rising geopolitical uncertainties that could affect supply.

To reduce LPG imports, Indonesia's energy minister targets doubling the domestic production of the popular cooking fuel from around 1.7 million tonnes per year.

Upstream oil and gas regulator SKK Migas has identified 15 gas fields that can potentially supply propane and butane gas to produce an additional one million tonnes of LPG per year, chairperson Dwi Soetjiptonne told reporters.

"Within three to four years this must be able to be reached," he said.

To boost investment into LPG production, the government will make sure that state energy firm Pertamina will offer LPG producers fair pricing in its role as the country's sole distributor of the fuel.

"The LPG industry has not been developed before due to low selling price to Pertamina, so investors saw this as uneconomical," Dwi said. "Now, the energy minister has asked to make improvements there."

Data from the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry showed that Indonesia imported 6.9 million tonnes of LPG last year out of the 8.7 million tonnes sold in the domestic market.

Additionally, Dwi said the government is looking into utilising more compressed natural gas as a way to further reduce LPG imports.

Uploaded by Magessan Varatharaja