Prabowo: Indonesia moving towards fuel self-sufficiency, B50 to launch in July

President Prabowo Subianto, speaking at the peak event of the XVII National Week of Leading Farmers and Fishermen (PENAS KTNA) in Gorontalo on Wednesday, reaffirmed that Indonesia will soon achieve energy self-sufficiency, particularly in fuel. In connection with this, President Prabowo announced that B50 biodiesel will be launched in July 2026. “We are heading towards fuel self-sufficiency, energy self-sufficiency. This July, in just a few days, we will launch B50. B50 diesel will be processed from 50 percent palm oil. With this, we will no longer import diesel from abroad,” President Prabowo told tens of thousands of farmers and fishermen from 38 provinces at the PENAS KTNA XVII event in Gorontalo on Wednesday afternoon. Once B50 is in effect, the President is confident there will be significant savings. “I estimate in three years, a maximum of four years, we will achieve energy self-sufficiency. We do not want to import anything for our fuel, for our energy,” he said. According to the President, energy independence and energy security are absolutely necessary for the Indonesian people, considering the impact society could experience if turmoil occurs in oil-producing countries or oil distribution routes, such as what is currently happening in the Strait of Hormuz. On a separate occasion, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Bahlil Lahadalia expressed confidence that the B50 programme can be implemented on 1 July 2026. “God willing, we are very optimistic that the implementation of the B50 release will take place on 1 July. With that, it will reduce or even eliminate our diesel imports, particularly C48,” Bahlil said in Jakarta on Thursday. Bahlil also confirmed that the technical implementation of B50 has gone through a series of trial stages and shown good results. B50 has currently been tested on various types of vehicles, including heavy equipment, ships, trains, and a number of other vehicles such as mining equipment, excavators, and agricultural tools. If B50 is implemented, the foreign exchange saved is estimated to reach up to Rp157.28 trillion this year.