Energy availability plays a very important role in accelerating the industrial sector, both as fuel and raw material for the production process. So far, national natural gas production has contributed to maintaining the sustainability of the domestic industry, although the utilization of natural gas to increase foreign exchange has also increased.

National natural gas production over the past five years has tended to stabilize. In the first semester of 2024, natural gas production was recorded at 6,635.5 MMSCFD, not much different from the previous year. Of this production, 69.17% was utilized to meet domestic needs. The rest is exported.

Natural gas utilization for industrial needs takes up about 27%. The allocation tends to increase and has reached the highest share in 2023, which is 30.83%. This increase is inseparable from efforts to support the structural transformation process - which began to shift the focus from activities in the agricultural sector to the processing industry sector.

In addition to the domestic market, natural gas production is also intended to increase foreign exchange or state revenue through exports. The export of natural gas consists of two categories. Namely, direct exports as pipeline gas (6.21%) and exports as liquefied natural gas or LNG (24.61%).

The strong push and pull of natural gas utilization for domestic industries and export markets has caused the utilization of natural gas for other needs to be full of dynamics. For example, the portion for electricity, city gas needs (households, hotels, restaurants, etc.), vehicle fuel, and raw materials for fertilizers, petrochemicals or others. Utilization for vehicle fuel and city gas takes the smallest portion, less than 1%.