JAKARTA ~ British Petroleum (BP) is planning a bio-fuel project in Indonesia aimed at meeting future demand for cleaner energy, the company announced this week.

“The plan is still at an early stage. We want to look at existing regulations and how the government will support the biofuel industry here,” British Petroleum spokesperson Niko Kanter said on Wednesday.

Kanter was accompanying the president of BP’s global biofuels business, Philip New, in a meeting with Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro.

Separately, the secretary of the government’s bioenergy team, Evita Legowo, said BP was interested in building a biofuel plant using sugar cane and jatropha – a hedge plant whose seeds are used to make biofuel – as raw materials.

Legowo added that BP was currently in talks with state-owned plantation and trading firm Rajawali Nusantara Indonesia (RNI) as its potential local partner for the project.

Indonesia is embarking on an ambitious biofuel program that has already attracted more than US$17 billion in foreign and domestic investment.