US supermajor Chevron and Indonesia’s Pertamina announced a new partnership today that will consider how they can join forces to develop low-carbon projects. The two companies said potential joint projects may include geothermal technology development, nature-based carbon offsets, carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), along with hydrogen production and logistics.
The new partnership was formalized in a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that Chevron and Pertamina signed in support of the Indonesian government’s goal to achieve a renewable energy mix of 23% by 2025 and net-zero emissions by 2060.
The Indonesian national oil company (NOC) is aiming to increase its share of renewable energy output within its own portfolio from just over 9% in 2019 to nearly 18% by 2030.
“This partnership is a strategic step for Pertamina and Chevron to complement each other’s strengths and develop lower-carbon energy projects and solutions to promote energy independence and domestic energy security," Nicke Widyawati, CEO of Pertamina, said in a statement.
The announcement highlighted that Indonesia boasts the second-largest installed geothermal capacity in the world and that the Southeast Asian country has been developing geothermal projects for almost 50 years.
Pertamina’s electric utility subsidiary operates or holds a partial stake in 13 geothermal plants with a combined capacity of 1,877 MW. The NOC is also in the midst of a hydrogen pilot that is seeking to produce up to 100 kg/D. It also has plans for carbon capture and storage and CCUS projects at two oil and gas fields.
Chevron has been operating in Indonesia for almost a century and in 2019 reported a liquids production in the country of 101,000 B/D along with 52 MMcf/D of natural gas.
“Through our potential work in Indonesia, and the entire Asia Pacific region, we hope to provide affordable, reliable, ever-cleaner energy, and help the industries and customers who use our products advance their lower-carbon goals," Jay Pryor, vice president of corporate business development for Chevron, said in the announcement.
The freshly inked MoU with Chevron follows one that Pertamina signed in November 2021 with ExxonMobil which also aims to develop low-carbon technologies in Indonesia. The partnership between ExxonMobil and Pertamina includes a joint effort to study subsurface data that will help identify formations suitable for CCS.
