Prabowo Wants Coal Gasification Project to DME to Move Forward
Mon 12 Jan 2026, 06:38 AM
Share
President Prabowo Subianto emphasized that Indonesia is capable of carrying out coal gasification to produce dimethyl ether (DME).
Prabowo points out that Indonesia is one of the countries with the largest coal reserves in the world.
He expressed confidence that the resulting DME products could replace the import of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
“We can produce DME which can replace our LPG imports from abroad,” Prabowo said during his remarks at the inauguration of the Balikpapan RDMP project in East Kalimantan on Monday (12/1/2026).
On the other hand, Prabowo emphasized that Indonesia possesses other abundant energy resources.
He stated that Indonesia is capable of producing energy from plants, namely biodiesel from palm oil.
Furthermore, Prabowo noted that Indonesia has the largest geothermal and hydropower potential, which has not yet been utilized to its maximum.
“So that we truly can produce our own energy. We don't need to import energy from outside,” said Prabowo.
Therefore, he targets Indonesia to stop importing energy commodities within the next 5–7 years.
“The important thing is that we must head in that direction. But who knows, with hard work, we might produce it even sooner,” said the Head of State.
Previously, the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Bahlil Lahadalia, stated that one more month is needed to finalize the coal gasification project into DME.
Bahlil mentioned that within that month, he would coordinate closely with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Danantara Investment Management Agency (BPI), Rosan Roeslani, to finalize the project before conducting the groundbreaking.
“Give me one more month to work out the details. Mr. Rosan and I will complete it within a one-month period,” Bahlil told the media in Hambalang, West Java, on Tuesday (6/1/2026).
Advertisement
