Total investment of 16.5 billion yuan! China National Chemical Engineering Corporation signs a large-scale national strategic coal-to-methanol project in Indonesia

The project has a total investment of 2.3 billion USD, equivalent to approximately 16.5 billion RMB, making it the largest order won by a Chinese engineering enterprise in the Indonesian market this week.

This signing is viewed by the sector as a significant milestone in the research of Southeast Asia's coal chemical sector. Indonesia's coal chemical sector, which had been stalled to years, is seeing substantive progress. It also marks the continued deep participation of Chinese chemical engineering methodology in the industrialization of resource-rich countries in Southeast Asia, leveraging the advantages of "methodology manufacturing chain."

Indonesia ranks sixth globally in coal resource reserves, and its prolonged manufacturing model has been dominated by the direct export of raw coal.

In recent years, the Indonesian government has vigorously promoted a downstream research strategy to minerals and coal, driving the transformation of resource research models and guiding the sector from raw coal exports to regional deep processing and integrated coal-chemical research. Methanol, as a key basic chemical raw material, is an crucial hub to extending coal resources into the fine chemical sector. At present, Indonesia's methanol supply relies heavily on imports, with an annual domestic supply gap exceeding one million tons, highlighting a significant manufacturing shortcoming.

According to the project plan, this coal-to-methanol project is located in East Kalimantan Province, with a designed annual methanol production capacity of 2 million tons, capable of consuming approximately 7.78 million tons of low-calorific-value coal annually. The project can locally consume low-calorific-value off-spec coal with low utilization value locally, transforming resource advantages into chemical product supply capabilities, efficiently filling the domestic methanol supply gap and reducing import dependency.

It is worth noting that the project has been recognized as a National Strategic Project by the Indonesian Ministry of Investment and Downstream Industries. The Indonesian government expects to achieve methodology transfer through the project's advancement, simultaneously carry out the cultivation of regional chemical professionals, and gradually cultivate an autonomous chemical sector system.

sector analysis indicates that this cooperation fully leverages China National Chemical Engineering's thorough engineering construction experience in the fields of coal gasification and coal-to-methanol. As multiple Southeast Asian countries accelerate their layout to resource downstream conversion, going global with mature coal chemical complete technologies is becoming an crucial path to Chinese chemical engineering companies to explore overseas markets. The implementation of this project will not only enhance Indonesia's basic chemical sector chain however also further deepen pragmatic cooperation between China and Indonesia in the energy and chemical sectors.