US energy companies Chevron [CVX:US] and ExxonMobil [XOM:US] have separately inked agreements with Indonesia’s state-owned refiner PT Pertamina to explore business opportunities in Indonesia’s low-carbon technology development, as reported by Reuters on May 13. Chevron seeks potential business in new geothermal technology, carbon offsets through nature-based solutions, and carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS). Under the agreement, Chevron and Pertamina will also work on lower carbon-hydrogen development, production, storage, and transport. Meanwhile, ExxonMobil will study the feasibility of large-scale implementation of lower emissions technologies with Pertamina, including CCUS and hydrogen manufacturing.

Indonesia aims to raise the share of renewables in its energy mix to 23% from the present 12% by 2025. By 2060, the Southeast Asian country plans to realize net-zero carbon emissions. Before Chevron and ExxonMobil participated in the country’s low-carbon development, Japanese trading house Mitsui [8031:JP] and Pertamina also started a joint feasibility study on CCUS technologies this April with the goal of commercial operation from 2025 to 2029. Although Indonesia sees CCUS as one of the key paths toward net-zero emissions, such technologies still have a long way to go before they can operate as anticipated, according to a senior executive at Chevron. In 2019, Chevron kicked off the world’s largest commercial CCUS project in Australia, but the scheme now operates at only half its capacity due to a range of technical problems.

Sources:

https://www.reuters.com/markets/carbon/chevron-pertamina-explore-lower-carbon-opportunities-indonesia-2022-05-13/

https://www.argusmedia.com/en/news/2320199-japans-mitsui-indonesias-pertamina-start-ccus-study

https://www.upstreamonline.com/energy-transition/indonesia-advances-carbon-capture-storage-and-utilisation-ambitions/2-1-1200194

https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/chevron-says-worlds-largest-carbon-capture-project-has-a-ways-go-meet-goals-2022-05-16/