The appointment of Arcandra Tahar as the energy and mineral resources minister signaled strongly that the focus of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo had shifted back to oil and gas, as well as coal.

This can be observed by several steps taken by minister Arcandra in his first 20 days working, including extending Freeport’s license to export concentrates, resuming negotiations regarding the Masela block and Indonesia Deepwater Development (IDD) projects, as well as cancelling the launch of feed-in tariff (FIT) solar power.

Arcandra was removed from his position in early August following the revelation that he held US citizenship.