Jakarta. The National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) is developing an Adsorbed Natural Gas (ANG) storage technology that it says could reduce the government's annual LPG subsidy bill by as much as Rp 26 trillion ($1.5 billion) annually while making greater use of the country's abundant domestic natural gas reserves.

BRIN Chairman Arif Satria said on Thursday that the technology enables compressed natural gas (CNG) to be stored more efficiently than conventional methods, potentially providing a practical alternative to imported liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), which Indonesia continues to rely on heavily for household cooking.

ANG technology stores natural gas in porous materials known as adsorbents, allowing significantly more gas to be contained at relatively low pressure than conventional CNG cylinders. The approach improves storage efficiency, enhances safety by reducing operating pressure, and could lower transportation and distribution costs, making natural gas more suitable for household use.

"Based on our preliminary calculations, this technology has the potential to reduce LPG subsidy costs by around Rp 26 trillion per year," Arif said after a meeting with President Prabowo Subianto at the Presidential Palace.

He said ANG is one of BRIN's flagship energy research projects and is being developed through a sister laboratory collaboration with 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate Susumu Kitagawa.

Indonesia possesses abundant natural gas resources, yet continues to import large volumes of LPG to meet domestic demand.

"CNG is abundant in Indonesia, but at the same time we remain heavily dependent on imported LPG," Arif said.

According to Arif, BRIN's technology enables natural gas to be stored at a pressure of only 30 bar, while achieving a significantly higher storage capacity than conventional compressed natural gas systems.

As a result, a gas cylinder comparable in size to Indonesia's standard 3-kilogram LPG cylinder could provide fuel for substantially longer.

"If a 3-kilogram LPG cylinder normally lasts around 10 days, ANG technology could extend its use to approximately 15 days, or about 1.5 times longer," he said.

Researchers are continuing to improve the technology with the goal of doubling the storage capacity.

Arif said President Prabowo had instructed BRIN to accelerate the technology's development, describing it as a potential breakthrough for reducing Indonesia's dependence on imported LPG while strengthening the country's long-term energy security through greater use of domestic natural gas.

BRIN aims to complete pilot testing in 2026, with the technology expected to begin commercial introduction in 2027 as an alternative household cooking fuel.

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