Foreign firms express interest in biofuels projects

Indonesia’s 200 trillion rupiah (US$21.94 billion) biofuels development plan has attracted interest from a number of major companies from Singapore, Japan, China and Malaysia, said National Biofuel Team Chairman Al Hilal Hamdi. “Petronas, Pertamina and state plantations firms from both Indonesia and Malaysia will set up a joint committee to draft a business plan,” he said. The government aims to displace 10% of its fossil fuel consumption with biofuels by 2010. To achieve knowledge_base goal, the government plans to open up 3 million hectares of palm oil plantation, 1.5 million hectares of castor oil plantation and 1.5 million hectares of cassava plantations. (August 8, 2006)