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RI to halt refined fuel imports from Singapore
The energy minister has announced a plan to stop importing refined fuels from Singapore, and instead procure the commodity from Middle Eastern countries.
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An oil rig operates on April 2, 2023, in an oil and gas field managed by Pertamina Hulu Energi Offshore North West Java (PHE ONWJ) near Indramayu, West Java. (Antara/Aditya Pradana Putra)
T
he government has announced a plan to replace oil imports from Singapore with direct shipments of the commodity from producers in the Middle East.
“I immediately decided that, for the next six months, we are no longer allowed to import oil from Singapore. We will just import from the Middle East,” Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said on Thursday at the Golkar Party’s headquarters in Palmerah, West Jakarta.
He said the move was aimed at “preserving national dignity and strategic sovereignty”, and criticized the fact that over half of all fuel imports into the country currently came from Singapore, despite the available supply from oil-producing nations in the Middle East.
“[Singapore] doesn't have oil, but we buy from there. Of the total production, 34 percent of the market is in Indonesia; the price is the same as the Middle East. I say this is a shameful strategy,” Bahlil said.
Singapore has no hydrocarbon resources and imports crude oil for its refining and petrochemical industries, according to data from the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA). The data also show that the island nation imports over two-thirds of its crude from the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
In 2023, Singapore exported approximately 69.4 billion kilograms of refined petroleum products valued at nearly $57 billion, according to the World Integrated Trade Solution (WITS). The same data show that Indonesia was the second-largest destination for Singapore’s refined petroleum exports that year, receiving around 11.86 billion kilograms worth $9.64 billion.
Read also: Indonesia to build oil storage facility near Singapore
