Nusa Dua. Djoko Siswanto, secretary general of the National Energy Committee, said Indonesia is developing green fuel as an end-product of palm oil, to reduce the country's reliance on costly oil imports.

Green fuel is a mix of palm oil and regular fuel.

"We are testing it at two of our refineries, Dumai and Plaju. We are aiming for 100 percent green diesel production by 2022 or 2023, including aviation fuel products. We will achieve it gradually. Only 12 percent of our refineries currently produce [biofuel]," Djoko said during a panel discussion at the 15th Indonesian Palm Oil Conference in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Friday.

He said the government was seeking national and foreign investors to build more refineries, especially in regions close to oil palm plantations in Sumatra and Kalimantan. However, he said there were no plans at this stage to export green fuels.

"The green fuel will only be for domestic consumption, not export," said Djoko, who previously served as director general of oil and gas at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.

He said success of the government's B30 program, which requires all diesel sold in the country to contain at least 30 percent biofuel, would help to increase the production of green fuel. The program's success would also determine the implementation of the ambitious B50 program in 2021.

Indonesia's drive to convert palm oil into green diesel, green gasoline and green aviation fuel would require around 8.8 million hectares of oil palm plantations.

Green aviation fuel is one of a few palm oil end-products in the government's sleeve to increase domestic consumption of the commodity. Vice President Ma'ruf Amin said at the opening of the conference on Oct. 31 that the government would increase the percentage of biodiesel in the national fuel mix.

"The 30 percent biodiesel policy will start in January 2020 and will consume an additional 3 million tons of palm oil for the entire year," the vice president said.

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