Tangguh LNG refinery drove West Papua's economy in 2024

Statistics Indonesia (BPS) noted that West Papua became the province achieved the highest economic growth rate among the country's provinces in 2024. BPS Head Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti said that West Papua's economy soared by 20.8 percent year-on-year (yoy) last year, higher than the Indonesian national economic growth rate of 5.03 percent yoy.

"High growth in West Papua was driven by an increase in oil and gas industry output due to the addition of Tangguh Train 3." she revealed in a press conference on Feb. 5, 2025.

Train 3 of the Tangguh liquefied natural gas (LNG) refinery project in Teluk Bintuni Regency, West Papua began commercial operations since October 2023. The Tangguh Train project has an investment value of US$ 4.83 billion (about Rp72.45 trillion), and it is predicted to increase the annual production capacity of the Tangguh LNG refinery to 11.4 million tons per year.

The economic growth performance of West Papua contributed 2.58 percent to Indonesian economic growth, the most among provinces in the Maluku and Papua Islands region. Accordingly, the economic growth performance in the Maluku and Papua Islands region also achieved higher growth than other regions of the country, such as Java's 4.92 percent, Sumatra's 4.45 percent, Kalimantan's 5.52 percent, Sulawesi 6.18 percent, as well as Bali and Nusa Tenggara's 5.04 percent.

The main sources of economic growth in Maluku and Papua are industrial manufacturing, mining, and trade.