Jatibarang turns 65 percent CO2 gas into saleable fuel, offering a template for Natuna

A gas processing station in Indramayu, West Java, has quietly solved a problem that has kept some of Indonesia's largest gas resources in the ground for decades. At the Akasia Bagus gathering station (Stasiun Pengumpul Akasia Bagus, or SP-ABG) in Pertamina EP's Jatibarang Field, gas that arrives with a carbon dioxide and impurity content of about 65 percent now leaves the plant at around 5 percent, clean enough to be sold to industrial power producers.

On 22 and 23 September 2026, national and sector outlets including detikFinance, Dunia Energi and OG Indonesia reported on the station after a site visit, describing it as a working pilot for high CO2 fields elsewhere in the country. Natuna was the example named on site. The timing is notable. Five days earlier, on 17 September, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources awarded the Natuna D-Alpha working area, one of the world's largest undeveloped gas resources and one defined above all by its carbon dioxide content.

From flared byproduct to contracted fuel

Jatibarang is a mature oil field. It produces around 11,000 barrels of oil per day, of which roughly 2,500 barrels, or 25 to 30 percent, come through Akasia Bagus. The gas that rises with that oil has long been the difficult part. With CO2 and hydrogen sulphide making up about 65 percent of the stream, it could not meet any sales specification, and it was burned to protect air quality around the site.

The new facility changes that. According to the station's production supervisor, it now takes in 10 to 11 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) of high impurity gas and delivers 3.3 to 3.5 MMSCFD of clean gas. Pertamina EP is commissioning a second processing train to lift intake to 22 MMSCFD and clean output to 8 MMSCFD, with full capacity targeted for the end of 2026 or early 2027.

The gas has a buyer. At the IPA Convex 2026 forum, Pertamina EP agreed to supply PT Cikarang Listrindo with 20 billion standard cubic feet (BSCF) through 16 September 2035, at a reported price of US$9 per MMBTU. The gas feeds power plants serving the Jababeka and MM2100 industrial estates in Cikarang, so a stream that once went to flare now supports electricity for manufacturers.

"This can be replicated in other locations with similar CO2 content, such as Natuna." Production supervisor, SP-ABG Jatibarang Field, as reported by detikFinance

How the plant works

The core of Akasia Bagus is a three part treatment chain. A CO2 Removal Package uses an amine system based on methyldiethanolamine (MDEA), with BASF of Germany as technology licensor for the acid gas removal unit. A Gas Dehydration Unit then removes water so the gas meets pipeline specifications. Finally, a Thermal Oxidation unit treats the separated acid gas stream rather than venting it directly.

Amine scrubbing itself is a mature technology. What sets Akasia Bagus apart is the starting point. Most amine units in gas processing handle feed gas with a modest share of CO2. Here the separated stream is larger than the product stream, which is why only about a third of the gas entering the plant leaves as saleable fuel. The operator describes the plant as the only one in Indonesia able to take gas from 65 percent CO2 down to 5 percent, and reporting from October 2025 described the installation as the first of its kind worldwide. Sirkularium has not independently verified the global claim, and treats it as the operator's own description.

The performance has also improved as the plant moved from construction to operation. Reporting in May 2025, when construction stood at 90 percent, cited an outlet specification of 8 percent CO2. September 2026 reporting cites 5 percent. The expansion also raises the station's liquid handling from 1,750 to 9,000 barrels of liquid per day and its gas handling from 3 to 22 MMSCFD, and the project adds 12.71 million stock tank barrels of oil and 10.53 BSCF of gas to reserves. Its Plan of Development was approved on 27 December 2017, so the result reflects close to nine years of steady engineering work.

Why Natuna is the obvious next step

The Natuna D-Alpha structure in the Riau Islands holds a gas resource estimated by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources at 222 trillion cubic feet (TCF). Katadata cites a figure of 230 TCF of gas alongside 350 million barrels of oil, and Sirkularium notes the difference between the two published estimates. Both sources agree on the defining feature: a CO2 content of around 71 percent, which is why only around 46 TCF is considered exploitable.

On 17 September 2026 the Ministry, through Decree No. 108.K/MG.4/DJM/2026, awarded the working area to PT Nations Petroleum through a direct offer. The contractor's three year firm commitment is reported at US$103.3 million, with a signature bonus of US$200,000, covering a block of 10,291.03 square kilometres and a 591 square kilometre seismic survey. Notably, the first year programme includes three integrated CO2 study packages. Carbon management is being treated as a core design question from the outset, not an afterthought.

This is where Jatibarang becomes relevant. The two fields differ greatly in scale and setting, one onshore in West Java and the other far offshore, so no one expects a direct copy. Yet Akasia Bagus gives Indonesian engineers, regulators and investors something that did not previously exist in the country: operating data from a plant that separates a majority CO2 gas stream and sells the product under a long term contract. That kind of track record lowers perceived technical risk, which in turn shapes financing costs for much larger projects.

The carbon question that follows separation

Removing CO2 from natural gas is only half of the climate equation. The separated carbon dioxide still has to go somewhere. At Jatibarang the separated stream passes through thermal oxidation, and the natural next step is to put that CO2 to productive use or store it permanently.

Jatibarang has a head start here as well. In October 2022 the Directorate General of Oil and Gas, together with Pertamina and Japan's JOGMEC, ran Indonesia's first CO2 injection trial in an oil and gas field at Jatibarang, injecting 70 tonnes of CO2 per day. The trial was designed to test enhanced recovery, with an expected production uplift of 30 to 40 percent from treated wells, while keeping carbon underground. Pertamina has since outlined plans to inject 14.6 million tonnes of CO2 at the field from 2031.

Put together, the pieces point toward a closed loop in a single mature field: separate CO2 from difficult gas, sell the clean gas to industry, and return the carbon to the reservoir to support oil recovery and long term storage. That combination is exactly the model Natuna would need at many times the scale.

Sirkularium's view: a practical signal for policymakers

For government and public institutions, Akasia Bagus offers three useful lessons.

First, flare reduction and supply security can move together. A gas stream that was burned is now a contracted fuel for industrial estates. This is industrial decarbonization in its most practical form: fewer emissions from the upstream site and a lower carbon fuel for manufacturers who would otherwise depend on more carbon intensive options. Regulators could consider a national inventory of other flared or stranded high CO2 streams where a similar amine and dehydration package could make the gas saleable.

Second, pricing matters. The reported US$9 per MMBTU price, agreed with an industrial buyer over a nine year term, shows that treatment costs for difficult gas can be recovered commercially without waiting for new subsidies. Clear, bankable offtake terms of this kind will be central to Natuna's economics, and policymakers can help by keeping gas allocation and pricing frameworks predictable.

Third, the separated CO2 deserves a plan from day one. The Natuna work programme already reflects this through its dedicated CO2 studies. The wider carbon capture and storage framework, including cross field and cross border storage rules, will determine whether separated CO2 becomes a cost or a value stream. Jatibarang's injection history makes it a natural national test bed.

What to watch next: commissioning of the second train and the step up to 8 MMSCFD of clean gas by around the end of 2026, any decision on reinjecting separated CO2 at Jatibarang ahead of the 2031 plan, and the scope of the three CO2 study packages at Natuna D-Alpha. If those move in step, a modest station in Indramayu may prove to be one of the more important energy transition assets in the country.