With the presidential election of Indonesia (scheduled for 9 July) becoming a battle between Governor of Jakarta Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, and former army general and Suharto crony Prabowo Subianto, it is worth taking a closer look into the ideas and policies that both candidates would like to implement if elected as the next Indonesian president, as well as their stance on specific economic issues. The viewpoints that are mentioned below are based on the documents that both parties provided to the General Election Commission.

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An official at Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources stated that the production of coal in the first four months of 2014 grew five percent (year-on-year) to 147 million tons. As such, the country is still on track to meet this year's coal production target of 426 million tons. Exports of Indonesian coal totaled 109 million tons in the January-April 2014 period, while the remainder (38 million tons) was sold on the domestic market. Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest economy, is one of the world's largest producers and exporters of coal.

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Indonesian vice president Boediono stated at the opening of the two-day Green Infrastructure Summit in Jakarta (29/04) that Indonesia's heavily subsidized energy prices might be the key reason why the country has failed to make its development policy more environment friendly. According to Boediono, a national consensus - involving the central and regional governments, businesses, lawmakers and other stakeholders - is needed to systematically curb Indonesia's large energy subsidies.

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An updated company profile of Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN) is presented in the Indonesian Companies section. PGN, a government controlled enterprise, is Indonesia's largest natural gas transportation and distribution company. The company and its subsidiaries developed and currently operate a distribution network that extends for 3,950 kilometers as well as a 2,047 kilometer-long transmission pipeline network. Perusahaan Gas Negara is positioned among the largest listed Indonesian companies in terms of market capitalization.

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SKK Migas, Indonesia's upstream oil and gas regulator, announced that oil production in 2013 averaged 825,000 barrels per day (bpd), thus falling short of the target (840,000 bps) set in the State Budget (APBN). Meanwhile, the country's gas production averaged 1,218,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), short of its target (1,240,000 boepd). As a result, total state revenues from the country's oil & gas sector also fell short of the government's target. In 2013, these revenues totaled USD $31.4 billion instead of USD $31.7 billion.

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Chairman of the Indonesian Coal Mining Association (APBI) Bob Kamandanu expects that Indonesia's coal production will decline about 5 percent to 400 million tons in 2014 after the government asked miners to scale back production rates in order to safeguard future domestic supplies as the country needs sufficient energy resources for its future energy supply. Amid low domestic demand, the government asked Indonesian coal mining companies to limit the country's total coal output at 397 million metric tons.

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Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources stated that domestic production of coal in Southeast Asia's largest economy reached 421 million tons in 2013. This implies a 7.6 percent growth in production from the previous year (391 million tons). R. Sukhyar, General Director of Mineral and Coal within the Ministry said that Indonesia's production of coal in 2014 is likely to exceed 400 million tons again as global demand for this fossil fuel remains strong. Indonesia is one of the world's largest producers and exporters of coal.

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Indonesia Investments added the preliminary company profile of Exploitasi Energi Indonesia. The company, a vertically-integrated energy company, is engaged in coal production & trading, coal logistics & transportation, and power generation. Currently, most of its revenue is derived from its coal mining activities. However, in the years ahead it intends to focus more on turning electricity generation into its main source of revenue. It has a long-term coal supply contract with state electricity company Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN).

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The Ministry of National Development Planning (Bappenas) estimates that between 2015 and 2020 the country needs IDR 7.200 trillion (USD $600 billion) for investments in infrastructure. However, the central government can only supply about 25 percent of the needed investments. These figures are the preliminary results of a study conducted by Bappenas. The study, which focuses on Indonesia's infrastructure development in the period 2015 to 2020, is expected to be completed by March 2014.

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Good news for Indonesia's geothermal power potential. The Indonesian government is getting closer to issuing a new law that will make it easier for investors to tap the country's huge geothermal energy potential. A committee of Indonesia's House of Representatives (DPR) supports a bill that was proposed by the government, which aims to spur investments in the country's geothermal energy sector through providing a better legal framework. Indonesia is estimated to contain the world's largest geothermal energy reserves.

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While one month ago we read (in Indonesian media) that Indonesian President Joko Widodo vowed no increase in prices of subsidized fuels before the end of 2022, the situation suddenly changed. Based on reports in Indonesian media in the second half of August 2022 there were growing signs that the government was busy preparing a significant increase in prices of subsidized fuels (involving Pertalite and Pertamax gasoline fuels as well as automotive diesel oil) to safeguard a healthy budget balance for the government.

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Subscribers may have noticed that over the past couple of months, perhaps even the past half year, we devoted one article per month to the topic of renewable energy. And, it is a combination of factors that motivates this decision.

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With the Ramadan month just having started, it is important to take a look at food prices in Indonesia. The Ramadan-Idul Fitri period is typically a period when prices rise amid a significant increase in demand.

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In March 2022 Indonesia’s fully state-owned electricity company Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) announced that it decided to team up with the French Development Agency (Agence Française de Développement), which is a public financial institution that is focused on implementing policies defined by the French Government with the aim to fight poverty and promote sustainable development, to jointly develop a wind energy plant with a capacity of 200 megawatt (MW) in Pandeglang (in Banten). This project is called the Banten Wind Farm Power Development.

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Energy is certainly the ‘thing’ to watch in the years, well decades, ahead. Amid heavy political pressures from the West, the world is heading for an unprecedented energy transition in which fossil fuels are going to be replaced by renewable energy sources. This is certainly great news for the environment (but whether the energy transition can ease, let alone stop, climate change – which is cited as the goal of this transition – seems iffy though).

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Currently, coal certainly ranks among the most interesting commodities. On the one hand, Indonesia expressed its commitment to reduce consumption of this dirty fossil fuel (that is especially used as raw material for the generation of electricity in power plants but also in various manufacturing industries such as the cement industry and textile industry) as the country seeks to become ‘carbon neutral’ by 2060 (although many doubt to what extent Indonesia is really committed to this ambition; after all, it has more immediate concerns such as the dozens of millions of Indonesians living below, and just above, the national poverty threshold).

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The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry of Indonesia has recently been making efforts to encourage the development of solar energy around this vast Archipelago. On 20 August 2021 it issued Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry Regulation No. 26 of 2021 on Solar Rooftop Connected to the Grid of Power Supply Business License for Public Interest Holders (henceforth: Regulation 26/2021).

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Besides the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, another big news story in March 2020 was the massive decline of global crude oil prices. Not only is the price of oil under pressure because of the enormous slowdown in economic activity as various governments have imposed restrictions (such as travel bans) in an attempt to curb the further spread of the coronavirus, but there also emerged big tensions between some of the world’s biggest oil producers that led to tumbling oil prices.

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Shares of Perusahaan Gas Negara, the largest natural gas transportation and distribution company in Indonesia, are showing spectacular growth in 2018. On Tuesday (23/01) the company's shares surged 8.91 percent to IDR 2,690 a piece. So far this year, its shares have grown a whopping 53.71 percent. What is the story behind this spectacular performance?

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Amid rising mining commodity prices, Indonesian coal mining company Adaro Energy saw its share price surge at the start of 2018. The mining index is actually the best-performing index so far this year in Indonesia, rising 13.58 percent since the start of the year. Being a mining company - or more precisely an energy company (as it recently entered the power generation sector) - Adaro Energy is among the major beneficiaries.

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