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Jokowi orders fuel stockpiling, at last
Oil pumps work in the desert oil fields of Sakhir, Bahrain
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Oil pumps work in the desert oil fields of Sakhir, Bahrain.(AP/Hasan Jamali)
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has ordered members of his administration working in the energy sector to immediately increase fuel stocks to maximize benefits from the plunge in the global oil price, a decision that was finally issued after two years of cheap crude.
According to the President, Indonesia should develop a strategy to build infrastructure in the energy and food sectors to anticipate forthcoming competition. Indonesia will reportedly take the slump in the oil price as a chance to buy as much fuel as possible for the sake of future energy security.
"As the oil price has dropped, state-owned firms and the related ministry should consider buying as much fuel as possible, wherever the location [of the oil facilities] ' within the country or outside the country," Jokowi said in Jakarta on Monday.
Thus, when oil prices crept up, Indonesia's fuel supply would remain safe. "It should be well designed," he added. The world's crude oil price has dramatically stumbled over the past two years, from over US$100 per barrel to less than $30.
Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said said the ministry had been preparing energy security funding. The allocation of the funds is set to be submitted in the revised 2016 state budget.
"In the revised budget, we will set it [the energy security funding] aside by, if necessary, buying more fuel as strategic reserves. We have been asked to submit the proposal in the near future," he said.
At the same occasion, Jokowi urged his administration to accelerate the development of fuel refineries in a bid to cut the chain that gives opportunities to many fuel traders. "A decision must be made this year, and it should be settled so that the supply chain is not too long," he said.
The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry's directorate general for oil and gas said there were at least seven countries interested in investing in refineries in Indonesia, namely Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Russia, China, Iraq, Iran and Thailand. (ags)(+)
