They also refine a bunch of the Indonesian oil, which I always found funny (refining is where the real money is, so why don't Indonesians do it themselves...?)
Indonesia nationalized all the assets of Royal Dutch Shell after independence, so there was probably some hesitation from companies to build refineries there versus Singapore.
> refining is where the real money is, so why don't Indonesians do it themselves...?
The economics of oil industry is more complicated than that. Canada does not refine most of its oil either. It's not because we don't have the technology or the money to build more refineries. It's because refining any more than the current amount does not make economic sense.
Refining is a tough very capital intensive business with very slim margins (known as the crack spread). I wouldn't say it's where all the money is at all.
Finished goods are where all the money is in capitalism, so why do any of the poor countries that export raw materials not just stop doing that and make finished goods?
Because post-colonial powers ensure that friendly (to them) people are in power that doesn't even dream of attempting it. And if that fails, they can also bomb or bring in a dictatorship.
