Below is a list with tagged columns and company profiles.
Today's Headlines Energy
The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry of Indonesia announced in January that the B35 biodiesel program is scheduled to be imposed on 1 February 2023 (implying a one-month delay as the B35 program was supposed to take off on 1 January 2023).
Indonesia ended 2022 with a modest increase in inflationary pressures. Indonesia’s Statistical Agency (or BPS) announced that December 2022 inflation reached 0.66 percent month-on-month (m/m), higher than our forecast of around 0.50 percent.
Again, we were surprised by the low level of inflation in Indonesia. While usually we see rising inflationary pressures in the month of November (ahead of the peak in the December-January period), this time it was a different story.
In line with our expectations, Indonesia’s headline inflation rate approached the 5.0 percent year-on-year (y/y) mark in July 2022 as Indonesia’s Statistical Office (BPS) determined inflation at 0.64 percent month-on-month (m/m) in July 2022.
The Indonesian government’s energy subsidy spending has always been a topic of controversy. By keeping fuel and electricity prices low the central government aims to support the Indonesian people as well as the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) as – indeed – poverty remains a big problem in Indonesia; a country where nearly ten percent of the population lives below the national poverty line (which is 26.5 million individuals in absolute terms).
Last month we started our inflation update stating that “the global threat of inflation has not reached Indonesia yet”. One month later, it now seems that a high inflation cycle has arrived in Indonesia; one that may continue in the next couple of months.
On Wednesday 6 April 2022 Indonesia Investments released the March 2022 edition of its monthly report. This report discusses key economic, political and social developments that occurred in Indonesia in the month of March 2022.
Considering Indonesia is committed to the development of renewable energy in a bid to cut the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, while at the same time reducing its traditional dependence on fossil fuels such as coal and (mainly imported) diesel in terms of the energy supply, biomass is one of the options that can offer a solution.
Biodiesel, which is a form of diesel fuel that is derived from plants or animals (in the case of Indonesia it mainly uses fatty acid methyl ether, FAME, which is derived from palm oil), has been on the political agenda of Indonesia since the 1990s when the first (in-depth) research was conducted by a number of state agencies.
Despite several persistent challenges, geothermal energy remains a very interesting (and relatively environmentally friendly) power source for Indonesia. It is estimated that Indonesia is home to 40 percent of total global geothermal energy potential. But as impressive as that sounds, the country only uses a fraction of the potential. So, let’s take a look at recent developments in terms of geothermal power in Indonesia.
Latest Columns Energy
On 24 February 2023 Pertamina Geothermal Energy made its trading debut on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) after concluding its initial public offering (IPO) – in which it sold 10.35 billion shares (which is equivalent to 25 percent of its enlarged share capital, including a 10 percent free float on the IDX) at an offering price of IDR 875 per share.
Just like essentially all other currencies around the globe, the Indonesian rupiah has been under pressure from tightening monetary policy in the United States (US). This has serious consequences for the energy market since Indonesia is a net oil importer.
While one month ago we read (in Indonesian media) that Indonesian President Joko Widodo vowed no increase in prices of subsidized fuels before the end of 2022, the situation suddenly changed. Based on reports in Indonesian media in the second half of August 2022 there were growing signs that the government was busy preparing a significant increase in prices of subsidized fuels (involving Pertalite and Pertamax gasoline fuels as well as automotive diesel oil) to safeguard a healthy budget balance for the government.
Subscribers may have noticed that over the past couple of months, perhaps even the past half year, we devoted one article per month to the topic of renewable energy. And, it is a combination of factors that motivates this decision.
With the Ramadan month just having started, it is important to take a look at food prices in Indonesia. The Ramadan-Idul Fitri period is typically a period when prices rise amid a significant increase in demand.
In March 2022 Indonesia’s fully state-owned electricity company Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) announced that it decided to team up with the French Development Agency (Agence Française de Développement), which is a public financial institution that is focused on implementing policies defined by the French Government with the aim to fight poverty and promote sustainable development, to jointly develop a wind energy plant with a capacity of 200 megawatt (MW) in Pandeglang (in Banten). This project is called the Banten Wind Farm Power Development.
Energy is certainly the ‘thing’ to watch in the years, well decades, ahead. Amid heavy political pressures from the West, the world is heading for an unprecedented energy transition in which fossil fuels are going to be replaced by renewable energy sources. This is certainly great news for the environment (but whether the energy transition can ease, let alone stop, climate change – which is cited as the goal of this transition – seems iffy though).
Currently, coal certainly ranks among the most interesting commodities. On the one hand, Indonesia expressed its commitment to reduce consumption of this dirty fossil fuel (that is especially used as raw material for the generation of electricity in power plants but also in various manufacturing industries such as the cement industry and textile industry) as the country seeks to become ‘carbon neutral’ by 2060 (although many doubt to what extent Indonesia is really committed to this ambition; after all, it has more immediate concerns such as the dozens of millions of Indonesians living below, and just above, the national poverty threshold).
The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry of Indonesia has recently been making efforts to encourage the development of solar energy around this vast Archipelago. On 20 August 2021 it issued Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry Regulation No. 26 of 2021 on Solar Rooftop Connected to the Grid of Power Supply Business License for Public Interest Holders (henceforth: Regulation 26/2021).
Besides the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, another big news story in March 2020 was the massive decline of global crude oil prices. Not only is the price of oil under pressure because of the enormous slowdown in economic activity as various governments have imposed restrictions (such as travel bans) in an attempt to curb the further spread of the coronavirus, but there also emerged big tensions between some of the world’s biggest oil producers that led to tumbling oil prices.
