Pertamina Maps 27 Palm Mills for Biomethane, Eyes Singapore Market

Jakarta — Pertamina New & Renewable Energy (PNRE) is developing a palm-mill wastewater biomethane project with Singapore LNG (SLNG). News reports published on 27 October 2026 say PNRE has mapped around 27 palm oil mills in Sumatra. The feasibility work, transport arrangements and buyer outreach are still under way: the mapped mills should not be mistaken for operating export facilities.

Feedstock in Sumatra, potential buyers in Singapore

PNRE chief executive Jon Anis told CNBC Indonesia at an ASEAN Council on Petroleum and Energy meeting in Bali that the collaboration would link Indonesian feedstock with SLNG's access to buyers. ANTARA also reported his account of potential customers. Neither report provides evidence of a completed commercial delivery or a contracted sales volume.

The mills are grouped into four clusters: North Sumatra, Riau, Jambi, and Lampung together with Palembang. CNBC Indonesia reported that feasibility work was progressing, while PNRE was still assessing pipeline and road-transport options. The company also aims to secure letters of intent from prospective off-takers. Such letters would mark a step towards a project, not prove that production or exports have begun.

The planned fuel would be made from palm oil mill effluent rather than crude palm oil used to make fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) biodiesel. That distinction matters for Indonesia's palm-energy debate: a wastewater-to-gas project should not be counted as additional CPO absorption under the B50 diesel-blending programme.

A national estimate is not installed capacity

Pertamina deputy chief executive Oki Muraza told ANTARA at the same meeting that Indonesia had potential to produce more than 200 million standard cubic feet per day of biomethane from palm-mill wastewater. The figure is the company's assessment of national potential, not measured daily production from the 27 mapped mills. ANTARA said the regional forum also discussed capturing methane from wastewater in other countries.

For mills far from gas pipelines, CNBC Indonesia reported that PNRE was considering a virtual-transfer arrangement. Biomethane could serve nearby domestic users while an equivalent quantity of gas elsewhere moves through a pipeline towards an export market. The proposed gas-swapping mechanism remains a logistics option, not evidence that Indonesia is already supplying Singapore.

What the next milestones would show

Feasibility findings for each cluster, a practical collection and upgrading system, connections or road delivery, and firm buyers would make the project's scale easier to assess. Without those details, neither the national potential estimate nor the mill count establishes a project value, emissions saving or export revenue.

Media Biodiesel has separately reported a target for palm-waste biomethane from South Sumatra to reach industry in West Java in 2027. The newly reported PNRE–SLNG plan has a broader Sumatra mill map and a Singapore market angle. The initiatives should not be aggregated into a realised national production total. For now, the news is a prospective partnership and feedstock mapping, not a confirmed flow of commercial biomethane.