JAKARTA – US oil major ExxonMobil is planning to invest up to US$15 billion (S$20 billion) in a petrochemical project and carbon capture and storage (CCS) facilities in Indonesia, President Joko Widodo said in a presidential palace statement on Thursday.

The planned CCS facilities would be the biggest in South-east Asia.

Mr Widodo, more commonly known as Jokowi, met ExxonMobil chairman Darren Woods during a trip to San Francisco for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit.

Earlier this week, Indonesia signed an initial deal with an ExxonMobil unit to explore investment in a petrochemical project in Indonesia to produce polymers.

ExxonMobil and Indonesian state energy company Pertamina also agreed to evaluate US$2 billion in investments in CCS facilities using two underground basins in the Java Sea.

“These large-scale opportunities could substantially boost industrial growth and decarbonisation in Indonesia, as well as the Asia-Pacific region,” said ExxonMobil Indonesia president Carole Gall.

The CCS hub would have the potential to store at least three gigatonnes of carbon dioxide emitted by industries in Indonesia and the rest of the region, Pertamina said.

Indonesia wants to use its depleted oil and gas reservoirs for carbon storage.

It is finalising a regulation that would open up storage schemes for carbon from abroad to be stored in the country.

The agreements were signed during Mr Widodo’s visit to Washington to meet US President Joe Biden, ahead of the Apec summit in San Francisco this week. REUTERS