Medco lends weight to Indonesias biofuel expansion

Indonesia’s private oil and gas player PT Medco Energi Internasional has announced plans to make an initial move into biofuel production. Medco has apparently earmarked upwards of US$144 million to fund the new venture, which will see three new ethanol plants being built. Retno Setianingsih, the director of business development and planning at Medco’s chemicals division, was quoted as saying that each ethanol plant needed an investment of around US$45-49 million. She added that one plant in Sumatra’s Lampung would have a capacity of 60 million liters of cassava-based ethanol per year, which would be exported to India, Korea, Taiwan, and China. Medco’s new installations will join the 10 ethanol factories currently operating in Indonesia, as well as four others that are under development. (August 21, 2007)