Soaring oil price no cause for concern: Minister

The state budget will remain safe despite a recent increase of the international crude oil price, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Darwin Zahedy Saleh said Monday.

Darwin said the soaring oil price could still be anticipated, because the Indonesia Crude Price (ICP) assumption in the state budget was set higher than the actual ICP.

"As we know, the 2009 revised state budget set an ICP assumption at US$61 per barrel. But, the actual ICP average from December 2008 to October 2009 was $56.86 per barrel. Therefore, we still have room to anticipate the oil price hike until the end of the year," Darwin told lawmakers from Commission VII overseeing energy and mineral resources.

Darwin is attending his first hearing with Commission VII since his inauguration as the energy minister on Oct. 22.