9 Million Tonnes of Indonesian Coal to Be Converted into Gas, Here's the Production Capacity

PT Bukit Asam Tbk (PTBA) is continuing to promote coal downstreaming, one of which involves converting millions of tonnes of coal into higher-value energy products. PTBA’s President Director Arsal Ismail revealed that one of the main projects being developed is coal to Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG). In this project, PTBA is preparing around 9 million tonnes of coal as feedstock. According to him, this project is intended to provide an alternative gas supply, particularly in the South Sumatra to West Java region. In its development plan, the SNG project is targeted to produce a capacity of 237 BBTUD. “This project is certainly intended to provide an alternative gas supply in the South Sumatra to West Java region. The coal requirement is 9 million tonnes. Then this project will certainly produce a capacity of 237 BBTUD syngas,” said Arsal during a Working Meeting with Commission XII of the House of Representatives on Monday (13/4/2026). In its development scheme, PTBA will form a joint venture with PT Perusahaan Gas Negara Tbk (PGN), which will also be the 100% offtaker of the SNG produced. Besides SNG, PTBA is also developing a coal-to-dimethyl ether (DME) downstreaming project as a substitute for imported LPG. This project is targeted to have a capacity of around 1.4 million tonnes and is expected to provide added value up to 4.3 times. In its implementation, PTBA will act as the plant operator as well as the coal supplier. Meanwhile, Pertamina will be the offtaker absorbing the entire DME production. “This is still in process; we are proceeding with Danantara, hopefully the economics will make PTBA even better,” he said.