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‘We have many tanks to fill’: Indonesia to make the most out of globally low oil prices
Oil imports, which reached US$1.18 billion in January, up 19.9 percent from the same month last year, are a main contributor to Indonesia’s trade deficit.
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Pertamina president director Nicke Widyawati (right) fills up a car in Tasikmalaya, West Java, in this undated photo. Nicke said low oil price will be good for Pertamina as it would buy the commodity at a cheaper price. (Antara/Adeng Bustomi)
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ndonesia aims to make the most out of falling global crude oil prices by fulfilling domestic oil demand without swelling the country’s gaping and growing trade deficit.
The Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Ministry acting oil and gas director general Ego Syahrial said on Monday that the government expected Indonesia’s top oil company, state-owned Pertamina, to “buy as much oil as it can,” preferably under long-term purchasing contracts, while global prices are flat out at a four year low.
“Oil prices have plunged, we should enjoy it,” he told reporters in Jakarta, “We have many tanks to fill.”
Read also: Indonesia aims to double gas production by 2030 with major projects in pipeline
Oil imports, which reached US$1.18 billion in January, up 19.9 percent from the same month last year, are a main contributor to Indonesia’s trade deficit, a key vulnerability for Indonesia’s economy.
Global crude oil prices fell around 30 percent on Monday after Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, slashed selling prices and set plans to increase crude production next month, effectively starting a price war between oil exporting countries, also known as OPEC.
Saudi Arabia had kicked off the price war by punishing Russia, the world’s second largest oil exporter, for rejecting an OPEC proposal to further reduce output after China’s COVID-19 outbreak cut sales to the world’s second largest economy.
