Indonesia Plans to Build Oil Storage Tanks in Sumatra SEZ

Indonesia’s Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), Bahlil Lahadalia, has revealed that the government plans to build storage facilities or reserves for oil in the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Sumatra.

This was stated by Bahlil following discussions on establishing an oil storage centre or storage hub in the ASEAN region. According to him, Indonesia is already ahead in preparing the construction of these national energy reserve facilities.

Initially, Bahlil assessed that the ASEAN oil storage construction plan is still in the early stages. However, Indonesia has prepared its implementation, including the preparation of a feasibility study (FS).

“The ideas put forward by ASEAN are a good idea, but that idea emerged at a time when we are already ready to implement it. And we plan to build that zone in Sumatra. We will create a Special Economic Zone which will ultimately become our national buffer reserve,” Bahlil said when met at the Ministry of ESDM, quoted on Tuesday (12/5/2026).

As is known, Bahlil mentioned that countries in Southeast Asia are currently formulating the establishment of an oil reserve storage centre or storage hub for the ASEAN region. In that plan, Indonesia proposed that the facility be built in the country.

According to Bahlil, the plan emerged in discussions at the ASEAN Summit in the Philippines as part of strengthening regional energy cooperation amid global geopolitical uncertainties.

“In the summit, we agreed on several important matters from the perspective of President Prabowo, inviting ASEAN to engage in mutually beneficial regional cooperation, especially in the energy sector,” Bahlil said.

In those discussions, Bahlil admitted to offering Indonesia as the location for building the ASEAN regional oil storage centre. However, he did not detail the specific location.

“We will build storage wherever, but yesterday I offered it to be in Indonesia. We are building a sufficiently large reserve which will ultimately supply countries in Southeast Asia,” he said.