Indonesia will go ahead with its 50% palm-oil based biodiesel (B50) programme this year, according to a Reuters report quoting the country’s President Prabowo Subianto.
“We are going in a big way to biofuel,” Subianto said on 30 March during an official visit to Japan. “We will produce [this year] diesel oil from palm oil and now we are increasing from 40% to 50%.”
In January, authorities had shelved plans to launch B50 this year due to technical and funding concerns, saying the B40 blend would be maintained, the 30 March report said.
However, amid energy supply disruptions due to the ongoing US/Israel-Iran conflict, talks of introducing B50 this year had been revived, Reuters wrote.
The B50 plan represents the next stage of Indonesia’s biodiesel mandate, which has been in place since 2016, progressing from B10 and B20 to the current B40.
The government has said increasing the biodiesel blend would reduce import dependence, strengthen the energy trade balance, add value to the palm oil sector, and support national emissions reduction targets and the broader energy transition agenda.
