JAKARTA (March 11): Indonesia will build oil refineries on several of its islands, including Kalimantan and Sulawesi, with a total capacity of one million barrels per day (bpd), upgrading from a planned single refinery with a 500,000 bpd capacity, the energy minister said.

Last week, the government said it wanted to accelerate 21 natural resource processing projects worth US$40 billion (RM176.65 billion), including several coal gasification projects, building oil storage and expanding its oil refining capacity.

Energy Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said late on Monday, after a meeting with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, that the planned capacity for the new refineries would be doubled to one million bpd. He said Indonesia currently imports around one million bpd of crude oil and fuel to meet domestic demand.

Indonesia also plans to build additional oil storage with a capacity of one million barrels, to ensure energy security, Bahlil said.

Indonesia has in recent years moved to increase the processing of its natural resources onshore.

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