PT Elnusa, the oilfield-services arm of Indonesian state energy company Pertamina, is pushing into fuel-storage infrastructure as the lead builder of the Palaran Integrated Terminal in East Kalimantan, a project tied to President Prabowo Subianto's flagship resource-downstreaming drive and the buildout around Indonesia's new capital, Nusantara.
The terminal is one of three national fuel-storage facilities within the second phase of the government's strategic downstreaming program, a 13-project package with a combined investment of about 116 trillion rupiah, or roughly 6.5 billion US dollars. Prabowo led the groundbreaking for the phase in April 2026, and once complete the Palaran site will be operated by Pertamina Patra Niaga, the state oil company's fuel-trading and distribution arm.
Andri Haribowo, Elnusa's director of operations, said the project reflects the company's shift from a provider of upstream oil and gas services into a builder of integrated energy infrastructure. The terminal demonstrates Elnusa's ability to combine engineering, construction, digital technology and health, safety, security and environment (HSSE) capabilities to deliver reliable infrastructure, he said in a statement on Friday, adding that it would strengthen fuel distribution in East Kalimantan and support the surrounding ecosystem of the new capital, known as IKN.
Inside the project
The Palaran terminal is designed with 12 fuel tanks and total storage of 37,500 kiloliters, about 236,000 barrels, alongside a jetty able to handle vessels of 7,500 deadweight tonnes, integrated piping, truck-loading bays and supporting safety facilities. It will connect to the wider distribution network through the Balikpapan-Samarinda pipeline, which the company says will improve the flexibility and efficiency of the regional fuel supply chain. Together with planned terminals in Biak and Maumere in eastern Indonesia, the three facilities are intended to add roughly 153,000 kiloliters of national storage capacity.
Elnusa leads a consortium with PT Pamitra Jaya Konstruksi and is handling the full scope of work, from engineering, process safety and strategic procurement through multidisciplinary construction, commissioning and certification. The terminal will run on digital systems including a Terminal Automation System, automated tank gauging, in-line blending of biodiesel and digital metering, which the company says will make operations more accurate, safer and more transparent.
A services firm moving up the chain
For Elnusa, the work marks a deeper move into infrastructure as it diversifies beyond cyclical oilfield services. The company is a subsidiary of PT Pertamina Hulu Energi, part of Pertamina's upstream subholding, and has spent more than five decades in the energy sector across upstream services, energy logistics and support work. It posted revenue of 14.5 trillion rupiah, around 815 million dollars, in 2025, and has been pursuing a "low-cost operator" strategy aimed at improving operational efficiency by as much as 25 percent, having executed about 95 percent of its capital-spending allocation.
Part of a wider downstreaming bet
The terminal fits into a central plank of Prabowo's economic agenda. The administration has framed downstreaming, the policy of processing raw materials at home rather than exporting them, as the route to higher value-added growth and greater self-sufficiency. The second-phase package, launched at the Cilacap refinery in Central Java on April 29 and coordinated by sovereign wealth fund Danantara under minister Rosan Roeslani, spans five energy, five mineral and three agriculture projects.
On the energy side, the program is aimed squarely at cutting Indonesia's reliance on imported fuel. Despite being an oil producer, Southeast Asia's largest economy imports a large share of its refined fuel. New gasoline refinery facilities at Dumai and Cilacap, with combined capacity of about 62,000 barrels a day, are projected to reduce imports by some 1.25 billion dollars a year, while the Palaran, Biak and Maumere terminals are meant to bolster storage and distribution in the country's east.
The program has not been without scrutiny. Analysts have noted that its headline investment figure was scaled back from an earlier projection of about 239 trillion rupiah to the 116 trillion rupiah committed at groundbreaking, raising questions about project readiness, and have cautioned that a groundbreaking ceremony is not the same as a finished facility.
For Elnusa, however, the terminal is a concrete step in its transformation. By anchoring fuel logistics for a fast-developing region that includes the new capital, the company is positioning itself as more than a services contractor as Indonesia pours capital into the infrastructure behind its energy-security ambitions.
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