Bumitama Agri and First Resources named in Indonesian plantation fire report
Greenpeace traced corporate ties to concessions with fire and smoke detections. First Resources said some fires spread from outside its boundaries.
An investigation by Greenpeace has named Singapore-listed palm oil producers Bumitama Agri and First Resources over their connections to Indonesian concessions with recorded fire and smoke activity in August and September. The environmental group also named the privately held First Borneo Plantations in its Oct 5 report.
Greenpeace used satellite information alongside corporate ownership research to connect the affected plantation areas with the companies. Its findings included concessions run by Kayung Agro Lestari, Damai Agro Sejahtera and Arjuna Utama Sawit.
First Resources challenged suggestions that its plantations were the starting points of the fires. In an Oct 15 response to The Straits Times, it said some fires had crossed into land under its management after beginning outside concession boundaries. The company said satellite observations alone could not determine a fire’s origin, responsibility or whether a concession holder deliberately used fire to clear land.
Those determinations needed ground investigations examining individual fires, First Resources said. It added that verification placed many hotspots near its West Kalimantan concessions outside its operating areas. Its firefighting teams had been stationed along concession edges from the time nearby hotspots appeared, supporting firefighting and working with neighbouring companies where applicable.
Kayung Agro Lestari belongs to Austindo Nusantara Jaya, the Indonesian producer acquired by First Resources in May 2025. Greenpeace separately identified Damai Agro Sejahtera as affiliated with Bumitama Agri, which did not respond to The Straits Times’ questions.
Greenpeace linked Arjuna Utama Sawit to First Borneo Plantations. A regulatory filing from Thai energy company PTT in 2019 described Singapore-incorporated Chancellor Oil as conducting palm oil operations through First Borneo, documenting the group’s historical Singapore ownership ties.
