Sweden Bio Energy to develop biofuel in NTT

Sweden Bio Energy (SBE) is set to develop castor oil plant-based biofuel in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) with an estimated investment of US$150 million or about Rp 1.3 trillion.

 

Head of the government's Biofuel Development Task Force Al Hilal Hamdi said in Jakarta on Monday that SBE started realizing its investment plan in March of this year. "The company has teamed up with national companies (to develop the biofuel project)," he said.

 

He explained that to develop the biofuel, SBE would grow four million of castor oil plants on 100,000 hectares of land. "The company will also build a castor oil processing plant with a capacity of 350,000 tons of oil per year. The plant needs an investment of around US$100 million," he said.

 

Aside from SBE, several firms have planned investment to develop biofuel in Indonesia. The government, for instance, has approved the $5.5 billion investment plan of Chinese oil and gas firm China Oil Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) and the $3 billion investment plan of a joint venture between China's Sinopec and Malaysia's Genting Energy.

 

"The joint venture plans to plant coconut palm trees and castor oil plants on one million hectares of land in Kalimantan and Papua," Hamdi earlier said. (Godang/Bernard)