Riau
Indonesia's leading palm oil producer—Dumai exports largest volumes; Chevron's 60-year wharf, Apical's $1B refinery expansion, highest renewable capacity yet peatland fires persist.
Chevron's Dumai wharf has operated since 1958, shipping oil from Sumatra's onshore fields for over 60 years. From this port and the fields behind it, Chevron Indonesia has produced over 13 billion barrels of oil across 94 years of operations. But petroleum is yesterday's story. Today, Riau leads Indonesia in palm oil production, and Dumai has become the country's largest palm oil export port.
Apical invested $1 billion starting in 2021 to expand downstream palm oil processing in Dumai, aligning with Indonesia's push to capture more value-added production domestically. The arithmetic is national: in 2024, Indonesia raised its biodiesel blend mandate to 35%, lifting domestic palm oil consumption to a record 24.2 million tonnes—up from 23.2 million the year before. Exports fell by 2 million tonnes to 30.2 million as domestic demand absorbed supply.
By 2026, Riau exemplifies Indonesia's energy transition paradox. The province holds the country's highest installed renewable generation capacity—yet its economy runs on oil extraction and palm oil plantations, both carbon-intensive. Peatland fires periodically choke the region in haze. Whether Riau's renewable capacity can diversify an economy built on extraction, or whether renewables simply add to existing fossil fuel infrastructure, remains the open question.