PT Lotte Chemical Indonesia’s (LCI) petrochemical plant in Cilegon, Banten construction progress has reached 73%, with total investment for this ambitious project amounts to US$ 3.9 billion, approximately IDR 59.8 trillion. The construction will soon contribute to the slashing of petrochemical imports by 2027.
President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo embarked on a visit to PT Lotte Chemical Indonesia’s (LCI) petrochemical plant in Cilegon, Banten today. President Jokowi’s target is to have the plant completed by March 2025.
This sprawling facility will manufacture 17 petrochemical commodities, including ethylene, polypropylene, and gasoline. President Jokowi stressed that the majority of the petrochemical output from this plant, approximately 70%, will be used for domestic purposes.
President Jokowi expressed his hope that the plant’s presence will help reduce the nation’s reliance on petrochemical imports. The construction phase alone has already provided employment for 13,000 workers.
“I believe that industries like this are what we need,” President Jokowi affirmed.
Spanning an area of 100 ha, this plant boasts a total annual production capacity of 2 million tons of naphtha cracker. This raw material will be processed to yield 1 million tons of ethylene, 520,000 tons of propylene, 400,000 tons of polypropylene, and various derivative products.
Petrochemical industries produce a diverse range of commodities that serve as raw materials in packaging, textiles, household appliances, automotive components, and electronics.
On another note, Luhut Binsar Panjaitan, the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, expressed confidence that by 2027, Indonesia will no longer need to import petrochemical products. This optimism stems from Indonesia’s plan to establish the world’s largest petrochemical plant in the green industry zone of North Kalimantan.
“We will not import petrochemicals by 2027, and we will have almost everything there,” he asserted.
Luhut elaborated that this optimism is grounded on Indonesia’s endeavor to construct the world’s largest petrochemical plant, which will be situated in North Kalimantan’s green industrial zone.
Petrochemicals are chemicals derived from petroleum or natural gas. They are used in the production of various products, including plastics, synthetic fibers, rubber, solvents, detergents, purified fossil fuels such as methane, propane, butane, gasoline, kerosene, diesel fuel, aviation fuel, agricultural chemicals like pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers, as well as materials like plastics, asphalt, and synthetic fibers.
In 2021, Indonesia, apart from many other petrochemical derivatives imported ethylene, valued at US$ 803 million, making it the world’s third-largest ethylene importer. It was the 27th most imported product in Indonesia that year. Indonesia primarily imported ethylene from Singapore (US$ 243 million), Malaysia (US$ 202 million), Italy (US$ 129 million), Thailand (US$ 64.9 million), and the United Arab Emirates (US$ 35.8 million).
