Jakarta. Indonesia is opening its doors to major refinery investments from the US to be able to process the mass US crude that Jakarta will import, according to Danantara's boss Rosan Roeslani.

Danantara, the country’s sovereign fund, is planning to partner with American engineering company KBR to set up 17 modular refineries throughout Indonesia.

Senior minister Airlangga Hartarto has backed reports of Danantara’s involvement, although he had neither confirmed nor denied KBR’s participation. Rosan told reporters Tuesday that these refineries would focus on processing the crude oil that Indonesia would bring into its soil as part of the recent tariff deal with Washington.

“We will buy American oil and that’s why we would need refineries. … Since this is from the US, that’s why we have to adjust our [refinery] investments with the characteristics of our crude oil imports,” Rosan told a presser in Jakarta.

US President Donald Trump recently agreed to roll back his reciprocal tariffs of 32 percent on Indonesia. He agreed to slash the tariffs to 19 percent after Jakarta made some major trade concessions, including $15 billion imports of American crude oil, liquefied petroleum gas, and gasoline. The Middle East is among Indonesia’s top oil suppliers, but Jakarta is planning to shift its fuel imports to the US following the deal. In other words, there will be no major change to the overall oil import volumes as Indonesia is only shifting its sources.

"We used to import from Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, but we may be taking a larger portion of crude from the US. … This is an [investment] commitment, and we are currently discussing the details so everything has to follow the regulations,” Rosan said.       

Reuters recently broke the news that Danantara planned on signing an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract worth $8 billion with KBR.

Airlangga told the Jakarta Globe Monday that the 17 modular refineries in question would be located in Sumatra, Kalimantan, Java, and eastern Indonesia. Its widespread location will not only cut logistic costs, but make it easier for the archipelagic Indonesia to distribute the fuel products. Airlangga also revealed that the reported $8 billion figure stemmed from the cost of equipment procurement for the refinery projects.

Official statistics showed the US had invested $800 million in Indonesia in the second quarter of 2025. This puts the US as Indonesia's fourth biggest source of foreign direct investment over the said period. Kilang Pertamina Indonesia (KPI), the state-run oil company's refining arm, already has signed some memoranda of understanding with American energy giants Chevron, ExxonMobil, and trading company KDT Global Resources.

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