High hopes amid fuel woes

Mon, 03/03/2008 12:52 AM  |  Reader's Forum

The world's skyrocketing oil prices plus the scarcity of subsidized kerosene have caused people in various parts of the country to line up to get the "rationed" kerosene, forcing the government to launch a number of strategies.

The first one was the substitution of kerosene with liquefied gas, and the second one was a plan to reduce subsidized gasoline sales to private car owners.

The first one has not been successfully implemented. The second one, dubbed by many as "controversial", has also finally been withdrawn leaving the huge fuel subsidy going as usual. Amid the above fuel woes, the month of February, despite heavy rain and storms it brings to this country this year, sends us three really good pieces of news.

First is the preliminary finding by the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) of a large hydrocarbon reserve off the western shore of Aceh that might reach a minimum of 107 billion barrels and a maximum of 320 billion barrels of oil and gas. Second is the hydro-fuel inventions by Yogyakarta Muhammadyah University students, and third is the possible takeover of the development of the gas-rich Natuna block from U.S. energy giant ExxonMobil Corp.

Bearing the above in mind, the future of Indonesia would really be bright should the government prudently follow up these three pieces of news for the sake of people's welfare. The hydrocarbon potential, for instance, would surpass the world's largest proven reserve in Saudi Arabia, which stands at around 264 billion barrels. The one-year laboratory scale hydro-fuel invention -- a water-based alternative energy and already patented under the trade name Banyugeni, which was officially soft-launched last week by the Bantul regent in Yogyakarta province, could be an alternative for the largely used kerosene stoves soon to be produced massively.

The hydro-fuel has, in fact, four different product variants, notably hydro-kerosene, hydro-diesel, hydro-premium and hydro-avtur, all of which have been convincingly tested. In the meantime, the "neglected" Natuna is estimated to hold 46 trillion cubic feet of gas, which would be one of the largest reserves in the world and could also be developed and explored for the sake of people's prosperity.

There is no way the above potential should be experiencing flawed process like the gold and copper mine in Timika whose profits have never been significantly felt by Indonesia in particular the Papuans.

M. RUSDI
Jakarta

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