Indonesian presidential ticket included DME in energy policy

BLUEFUELENERGY.COM: Although the Indonesian general election is over and the ticket of Megawati Soekarnoputri and her running mate Prabowo Subianto lost to incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Blue Fuel/DME featured prominently in the energy policy of the second-place finishers.

According to an article in the Jakarta Post, Megawati and Prabowo proposed constructing "geothermal and hydroelectric plants to generate 10,000 MW, to build DME refineries, and to build 56-MTPA bio-ethanol plants (with 4 million hectares dedicated to growing sugar palms, in a plan intended to create 24 million jobs). It is believed that they included DME in their platform because Indonesia has significant experience in gas processing, if not in Blue Fuel/DME processing itself.

Since 1977, Indonesia has exported LNG to Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China and the United States and natural gas by pipe to Singapore and Malaysia and it is considered a problem that a country rich in various energy resources has become oil-dominated and allowed itself to be trapped as a net oil importer. A key element of Indonesian energy policy recently is energy security and the Blue Fuel/DME refineries were intended to help with the security issue.

Megawati Soekarnoputri is the leader of the PDI-P party. She served as the President of Indonesia from 23 July, 2001 to 20 October, 2004 and was the country's first female President. She is also the first Indonesian leader to be born after independence. Megawati is the daughter of Indonesia's first president, Sukarno.