Mini LNG Plant Tuban May Cut Indonesia's LPG Imports

TUBAN — The Mini LNG Plant Tuban could directly reduce Indonesia’s LPG imports, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said when the PT Sumber Aneka Gas facility was inaugurated in Tuban, East Java, on Thursday.

Bahlil said the gas processing facility is more than an industrial project. Indonesia still imports a large volume of LPG, while domestic supply has yet to meet demand. That is why additional output from Tuban is seen as important in narrowing the gap between national consumption and production.

Mini LNG Plant Tuban and LPG import pressure

In his remarks, Bahlil said average national LPG consumption stands at more than 8.5 million metric tons a year. Indonesia’s LPG production, he said, is only around 1.91 million metric tons annually. That means about 7.47 million metric tons still need to be covered by imports.

The gap is not small. At the national level, it means foreign exchange continues to flow out every year to buy fuel for households and industry. At the market level, heavy import dependence also leaves supply more exposed to global prices, logistics costs, and supply-chain shocks.

“This can reduce our imports. So the imports we have been making can be cut with production here,” Bahlil said after the inauguration of PT Sumber Aneka Gas’ Mini LNG Plant in Tuban.

That message aligns with the government’s energy policy direction, which seeks to raise the share of domestic production. For Indonesia, every extra unit of supply from a local facility means less room for imports. For industry, a closer supply point can also trim distribution time and costs.

Production capacity and output from Mini LNG Plant Tuban

The PT Sumber Aneka Gas Mini LNG Plant in Tuban has a maximum production capacity equivalent to 55,300 tons per year, with a tank capacity of 1,600. The facility does not only produce LPG. It also generates 19,600 barrels per year of condensate gas and 21,000 tons per year of CO2 liquid.

The plant can also produce compressed natural gas, or CNG, with a capacity of 6 million standard cubic feet of gas per day, equivalent to 6 MMscfd. Bahlil said the output adds value because the products can be used both for energy needs and industrial raw materials.

It also shows that a gas processing facility like this is not built for one market alone. Several commodities can come out of one production site. That matters for industrial players that need reliable raw material supply from a closer source.

Supply is aimed at East Java industry

Bahlil said the products from the Mini LNG Plant will be absorbed by industrial users in East Java. The storage infrastructure and production output were designed to support an LNG supply chain based on land transport.

“This is very helpful for industry in providing certainty over raw materials,” he said.

That line carries real weight for industry. Energy supply stability often determines how fast a factory can keep its production cycle running. If energy inputs stall, production schedules are disrupted. If supply is more certain, planning costs are easier to calculate.

East Java also plays a major role in Indonesia’s industrial map. Many manufacturing, processing, and logistics zones depend on adequate energy availability. Facilities like the Mini LNG Plant Tuban can act as a buffer for supply in the region, not just as an ordinary energy infrastructure project.

Why the Mini LNG Plant Tuban matters

The government has repeatedly stressed the need to cut energy imports. In separate remarks in Jakarta on the same day, Bahlil also highlighted Indonesia’s heavy dependence on imported LPG and gasoline. CNBC Indonesia reported that he said LPG imports still consume a large amount of foreign exchange because domestic production has not covered demand.

The data Bahlil presented is consistent with his remarks in Tuban. National LPG consumption is in the range of 8.5 million tons per year, while domestic production is only around 1.8 million to 1.9 million tons. The difference across the two sources remains in the same range and points to a large gap that still has to be filled by imports.

In this context, projects like the Mini LNG Plant are not just about adding output. They affect the energy trade balance, pressure on foreign exchange, and supply security for households and industry. As domestic capacity rises, the room for imports slowly narrows.

The government, Bahlil said, will continue supporting the development of the strategic Mini LNG Plant PT Sumber Aneka Gas project. That support signals that facilities like this are being placed inside the national energy strategy, not treated as stand-alone projects.

The road ahead for Indonesia’s energy policy

Bahlil said the Mini LNG Plant is part of an effort to strengthen national energy security, improve industrial competitiveness, and support sustainable economic growth. Those three goals are closely linked. Without enough energy supply, industry struggles to move quickly. Without a strong industrial base, economic growth also slows.

In Jakarta, Bahlil also reiterated the government’s strategy to reduce energy imports more broadly. CNBC Indonesia and Detik Finance reported that he stressed the importance of using domestic output and finding ways to prevent overseas purchases from continuing to drain foreign exchange. In that separate briefing, he also linked lower imports with rupiah stability.

For LPG, the Tuban project is one of the steps expected to ease the import burden. Its impact may not cover national needs on its own, but the added domestic supply still matters. That is especially true for East Java’s industry, which needs day-to-day certainty in supply.

What comes next will depend on how quickly facilities like the Mini LNG Plant Tuban can channel output to end users. If supply runs smoothly, the project could become one example of how domestic production begins taking a share that has long been filled by imports.