
The Case Against Petrochemical Indonesia: Why Indonesia’s Chemical Industry is the Worst in the World
The country’s chemical industry is a major economic engine, powering a $1.8 trillion economy and contributing to more than 1.3 million jobs.
Indonesia’s massive hydrocarbon industry generates about 40% of the country’s output, making it a top export destination.
It’s also the most profitable in Southeast Asia, with an average profit margin of 23% during the past decade.
Its state-owned Petrochemical Independiente, or PIA, is also among the world’s biggest and best-known producers of chemicals.
It makes products for the U.S. and its allies, as well as for Indonesia’s foreign customers.
But the country has also been accused of waging a covert war on the petroleum industry, with PIA and other major exporters facing sanctions by the U, U.K., and EU.
A 2014 investigation by the Guardian, which also cited U.N. reports, documented the “dramatic decline” of Indonesia’s oil exports to China in recent years, including a sharp drop in crude imports from Indonesia in 2014.
Petrochemical products have been key to Indonesia’s economic success.
The country has the world most refined crude oil production, at 7.3 billion barrels a day, and has the second-largest proven reserves in the world behind Saudi Arabia.
Petrochemicals account for 40% to 45% of Indonesia.
Their production is also crucial to the countrys economic survival, and PIA is one of the worlds largest exporters of petroleum-based products.
The company’s president, the late Jusuf Kalla, was once Indonesia’s richest man, and is now widely known as the “King of Oil.”
He also is a key figure in the country s economy, as a leader in the petroleum business.
Indonesia is now under pressure from the U., U.k., and the EU to curb its own emissions of CO2.
In 2014, the country adopted a plan to cut CO2 emissions by 30% by 2030 and reduce global warming emissions by 40% by 2050.
That’s the most ambitious plan ever put forward by an industrialized nation, and was the first in the region.
However, there is a growing body of evidence that the country is continuing to reduce its emissions, especially its dependence on fossil fuels.
In recent years Indonesia has cut its emissions by almost a quarter, from the previous peak of 9.4 billion barrels in 2009.
The latest round of reductions came just months after Indonesia’s largest refinery, Petroleo Brasileiro SA, closed down.
In a statement, Petrolio Brasileirao, a major Petrochemical producer in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, said its closure “was due to the high level of CO 2 emissions” and was a “significant step” toward “a more sustainable future.”
A number of Indonesian companies, including Petrochemical, are already facing sanctions from the United States and other countries, for their role in the past and continuing involvement in the CO2-emissions crisis.
PIA’s decision to close was in line with a call by the company’s chief executive officer, James O. O’Leary, in February for the company to “end the use of fossil fuels for its production.”
In the past year, Petrochemical has been embroiled in a series of scandals involving the companys failure to report data on its CO2 use and the pollution of Indonesian wetlands.
In January, PIA announced that its Indonesian subsidiary, Petropol Indonesia, was under investigation for allegedly “unlawfully and without legal justification” exporting CO2 to its American clients.
That same month, Petrochem Indonesia’s president and CEO, Peter Lai, resigned over allegations that he had misused public funds.
Oleg Koval, a former deputy prime minister and current deputy head of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, has also resigned over the company s actions.
Oluwat said the company had been “actively looking into ways to reduce our CO2 usage,” including by investing in alternative energy.
He added that the company would “immediately begin an evaluation of the company” and would provide a detailed report in the coming months.