Instead of expanding gas, the UAE should help Indonesia build offshore wind |
Within months, Mubadala Energy is expected to make a final investment decision on its Tangkulo development in Indonesia’s South Andaman block, where recent discoveries have revealed more than 2 trillion cubic feet of gas-in-place. Additional finds in the same basin could hold more than 6 trillion cubic feet. The project is being hailed as another milestone in Indonesia’s push to become a major regional gas supplier.
But the bigger story is not the gas beneath the Andaman Sea. It is the strategic choice facing the United Arab Emirates.
The UAE is now one of the world’s most influential energy investors. Through companies like Mubadala Energy and Masdar, Abu Dhabi is simultaneously financing two very different futures: one built on new fossil fuel extraction, the other on renewable energy systems designed for a decarbonizing global economy.
The UAE is now one of the world’s most influential energy investors. Through companies like Mubadala Energy and Masdar, Abu Dhabi is simultaneously financing two very different futures: one built on new fossil fuel extraction, the other on renewable energy systems designed for a decarbonizing global economy.
In Indonesia, the UAE should place its larger bet on the second.
Rather than doubling down on offshore gas development, Abu Dhabi should accelerate support for a Masdar–State Electricity Company (PLN) joint venture focused on offshore wind in eastern Indonesia, particularly along the Sulawesi–Maluku corridor. A 2-gigawatt renewable pipeline there would do more to strengthen Indonesia’s long-term energy security and economic competitiveness than another decade of gas expansion.
At first........