Toyota Tsusho Corporation ("Toyota Tsusho") announced today that it established PT KIS Toyota Tsusho Biomethane Indonesia (KTBI), a joint venture company, with PT KIS Biofuels Indonesia (KBI), a company active in the biomethane business, in September 2026. The joint venture will produce and sell biomethane in Indonesia and aims to commence commercial operations in 2027.

Indonesia is among the world’s leading natural gas production and exporting countries. In recent years, however, ensuring stable energy supplies has become even more important as domestic gas production has been trending downward while demand has continued to increase. In addition, Indonesia is the world’s largest palm oil producer and has abundant biomass feedstocks, including palm oil plant wastewater, known as palm oil mill effluent (POME). In addition to these circumstances, demand for biomass-derived gas (biomethane) as a complement to natural gas is increasing as decarbonization initiatives advance across industrial sectors.
KBI, Toyota Tsusho’s partner in this collaboration, is an Indonesian subsidiary of the KIS Group, which operates biogas and biomethane businesses globally. KBI has an established track record as the first company to successfully engage in the commercial production and sale of biomethane in Indonesia. In addition, the KIS Group has undertaken more than 90 projects in the biogas sector in over 20 countries worldwide.

As a first step towards developing the biomethane business throughout Indonesia, KTBI is undertaking a project to upgrade biogas derived from POME generated at a palm oil mill in South Sumatra Province into biomethanen and to transport and sell it. KTBI aims to commence commercial operations in 2027.
KTBI plans to supply the produced biomethane to customers, including those in the manufacturing industry, in West Java Province via the pipeline network of PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (Persero) Tbk (PGN), an Indonesian state-owned gas corporation. Plans are to sell approximately 150,000 MMBtu* annually.
This project is expected to provide dual benefits in both suppressing atmospheric emissions of POME-derived methane and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by switching from fossil-based gases to biomethane. In addition, users can advance their decarbonization efforts while curtailing capital investment as biomethane can be used with existing gas-operated equipment and pipeline networks. Furthermore, KTBI will work to make these environmental benefits more visible and enhance the market value of its biomethane by pursuing certification under ISCC, an international sustainability certification system.
This project is being undertaken pursuant to the memorandum of understanding on the commercialization of biomethane that was concluded by PT Toyota Tsusho Indonesia with PGN at the first Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC) Leaders’ Meeting in 2023. This will be the first project in Indonesia to supply biomethane produced on Sumatra, where many palm oil mills are located, to customers on Java, where manufacturing industries are concentrated.

Toyota Tsusho will respond to the decarbonization needs of its clients, including Japanese companies, by leveraging KBI’s expertise in the biomethane business and its own business foundations built with clients in Indonesia, primarily in the manufacturing industry. By doing so, Toyota Tsusho will contribute to the further expansion of biomethane use in Indonesia and to the realization of a sustainable society.

* Million British thermal units. This is a unit of energy (heat content) widely used in natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) trading. 52 MMBtu is equivalent to approximately one metric ton of LNG.