American oil and gas giant Exxon Mobil is planning to invest up to $15 billion in Indonesia for a green petrochemical refinery and carbon capture storage (CCS) facility, according to President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. Jokowi earlier this week met Exxon Mobil Corporation chairman Darren Woods in San Francisco. The planned projects — which are expected to slash Indonesia’s carbon emissions — were high up on the agenda during the meeting.
“I appreciate the cooperation plan to build a green petrochemical refinery and a CCS facility. The projects are worth up to $15 billion,” Jokowi was quoted as saying in a recent press statement. “I’m pleased to hear that the CCS facility will be the largest in Southeast Asia. Exxon’s petrochemical complex is also expected to be one of the most advanced in the world,” Jokowi said.
Jokowi also asked Exxon Mobil to take part in building Indonesia’s renewable energy and green infrastructure in Indonesia, including its new capital Nusantara. Earlier this month, Jokowi said that the project had attracted 320 letters of intent from both domestic and foreign investors so far.
According to government estimates, it takes approximately $33 billion to build Nusantara from scratch. However, Indonesia will rely on public-private partnerships to cover 80 percent of the costs, while the remaining 20 percent will come from the state budget, according to Jokowi. Government data shows the US became the fifth largest foreign investor in Indonesia in the first nine months of 2023. American investment in Indonesia totaled $2.4 billion over the said period, just behind Japan (around $3.3 billion).
Source: https://jakartaglobe.id