Jakarta — Indonesia’s state energy firm Pertamina aims to test the injection of carbon for storage underground by the end of 2022, as authorities prepare a regulation to encourage the development of carbon capture infrastructure, officials said on Thursday.
Pertamina aims to slash its greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030 and has been exploring carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) technology with several partners to offset emissions and boosts its oil and gas production.
Pertamina and its partner Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) planned a carbon injection test at Pertamina’s Jatibarang field in West Java, Budiman Parhusip, the president director of Pertamina’s upstream unit, told an industry conference.
“We are doing an injectivity test in Jatibarang and we will do that this year to see the impact to the reservoir,” Budiman said.
Meanwhile, the energy ministry is drafting a regulation on carbon capture and storage (CCS) and CCUS implementation in the oil and gas industry, Tutuka Ariadji, the director general of oil and gas said at the same event.
Under the proposed regulation, contractors that include the installation of a carbon capture facility in their development plans might be granted incentives to make the project commercially viable, Tutuka said.
The proposed rules would only be applicable to oil and gas contractors but they may allow other industries to store carbon at their facilities, Tutuka said.
Budiman said companies needed fiscal support from the government to enable development of carbon capture projects, owing to the high level of investment required for CCS and CCUS.
Indonesia needs to be open to store carbon from domestic as well as overseas sources to make the projects scalable, Tracy Lothian of ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions said.
Tutuka said Indonesia would prioritise carbon storage for emissions from domestic sources for now, as Southeast Asia’s biggest economy targets achieving net-zero emissions by 2060.
Reporting by Bernadette Christina; Editing by Fransiska Nangoy and Ed Davies – Reuters
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