PGN Collaborates with Three Japanese Companies and PTPN to Work on the Biomethane Project
Japan, March 8, 2023 - PT PGN Tbk, as Pertamina's Gas Subholding, is collaborating with gas companies from Japan, namely Osaka Gas Co., Ltd (DAIGAS), JGC Holding Corporation (JGC), INPEX Corporation (INPEX) for the biomethane clean energy project. In this case, bio-methane is sourced from palm oil waste or Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) owned by PT Perkebunan Nusantara (PTPN).
This project follows the collaboration between PT Pertamina(Persero) as the Oil and Gas Holding with DAIGAS, JGC, and INPEX in a clean energy project joint study in Indonesia. In addition, it also realizes the Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC) program announced by Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in the G20 Presidency series on November 14, 2022, in Bali. The Japanese government stated that it is ready to assist Indonesia in supporting the energy transition process in Indonesia as part of the AZEC cooperation framework.
In the collaboration signing, PGN, DAIGAS, JGC, INPEX, and PTPN agreed to conduct a study on POME biomethane or biogas processing supplied by PTPN. PTPN has a portfolio in plantation products management, processing, and marketing that focuses on oil palm and rubber.
"In this biomethane project from POME, PGN supports G-to-G relationships in Asian countries to ensure energy supply security and affordability during the energy transition period to achieve a carbon-neutral target. It follows PGN's readiness to develop biomethane, which use is equivalent to natural gas for various sectors," said the Director of Strategy and Business Development of PGN, Heru Setiawan (7/3/2023).
Heru also stated the biomethane distribution readiness, which can use PGN Group natural gas pipelines and non-pipelines. This collaboration will accelerate the Biomethane development in Indonesia. With PTPN's portfolio in palm oil processing, studies can be deepened on palm oil mills and POME processing plants, as needed for POME-derived Bio-CNG production facilities and the carbon credits or bio-certificates creation.
Through this collaboration, it is possible to measure Chemical Oxygen (“COD”) POME from palm oil mills to calculate the decreasing annual bio-methane production risk so that it can be anticipated.
Additional to this collaboration, PGN also opens opportunities to work with other business entities engaged in palm oil processing to increase the production capacity needed by the market.
"Biomethane, as renewable energy that is more environmentally friendly, can replace fossil fuels. Palm oil mill waste, or POME, contains materials that produce quite high methane emissions. So PGN and partners are committed to optimizing this collaboration to convert POME into bio-energy to increase the clean energy supply," Heru said.**