Jakarta. Indonesia’s investments in the energy and mineral resources sectors reached $13.9 billion between January and June 2025, the highest first-half achievements in the past five years, the government announced Monday.

Energy Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said that investments had increased by 24.1 percent year-on-year from the $11.4 billion recorded in the first half of 2024. 

“A large part of the H1 2025 investments went to oil and gas,” Bahlil told a news conference as data showed that the said industry attracted $8.1 billion worth of investments. 

Followed by minerals and coal ($3.1 billion), electricity ($1.9 billion), and renewables and energy conservation ($800 million). Bahlil did not disclose who the investors were, including their country of origin. Data showed that oil and gas had consistently been making up the lion’s share of Indonesia’s energy investments, and what the resource-rich country recorded in 2025 was the biggest in recent years.

The overall energy and mineral resources investments have been fluctuating, reaching $10.9 billion in January-June 2021 before dropping to $9.6 billion over the same period a year later, data showed. The numbers rose to $11.8 billion in the first half of 2023, went down to $11.2 billion (H1 2024), and eventually jumped to $13.9 billion (H1 2025).

Indonesia is also trying to move its abundant natural resources up the value chain in a move that will see massive downstream industry development. Prabowo has appointed Bahlil to lead the downstream industry task force. Bahlil said that he had drawn up a list of 18 projects worth $38.6 billion and handed over their pre-feasibility study documents to the sovereign fund Danantara. Some are related to the energy sector.

One of Bahlil’s aides, Tri Winarno, recently told reporters that coal gasification was among the submitted projects, something that could help Indonesia cut down on its liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) imports. Tri claimed that an unnamed Chinese investor was interested in striking a deal worth around $1.2 billion to carry on this coal gasification. Tri said that the Indonesian government would “greatly benefit from this scheme” as not only would the money come from a foreign investor, but they also would not have to bear the risks. Tri also hinted that the Chinese company would likely partner with a private-owned Indonesian company.