January 12, 2026 [Reuters]- Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto on Monday inaugurated the $7.4 billion upgrade of Pertamina’s Balikpapan refinery, which brought the facility’s refining capacity from 260,000 to 360,000 barrels per day, the largest in the country.

Indonesia’s state energy firm Pertamina has been aiming to improve its refining capacity and efficiency for years to meet the country’s rising energy demand.

Energy minister Bahlil Lahadalia said the upgrade would allow the refinery to increase production of 92-octane, 95-octane and 98-octane gasoline.

“So we will no longer import,” he said, adding that private retailers would buy locally made products from Pertamina instead. He did not provide a timeframe.

Bahlil said the refinery could produce 5.8 million kilolitres of gasoline per year, which would help reduce Indonesia’s total gasoline imports to 19 million kilolitres, from the previously rate of around 24 million kilolitres.

Bahlil said Indonesia would also be able to stop importing gasoil, citing rising production from the refinery upgrade as well as the country’s biodiesel mandate.

“In 2027, God willing we no longer import jet fuel, only importing crude oil,” he added.

Following the upgrade, which started in 2019, the refinery will produce lower sulphur fuel and increase its liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) production capacity to 384,000 metric tons per year, from the previous 48,000 tons.

Pertamina said this could potentially reduce LPG imports by 4.9% and could also cut gasoline imports.

The refinery revamp also included a petrochemical production facility, which could produce 283,000 tons of petrochemicals annually, including 225 tons of propylene.