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New innovation needed to meet fuel demand amid resource scarcity
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A worker prepares to fill the fuel tank of a vehicle at a gas station in Jakarta. President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo urged on Thursday policymakers to immediately seek new innovation to address Indonesia's skyrocketing fuel demand amid continuous decrease in domestic supply. (Kompas.com/-)
P
resident Joko "Jokowi" Widodo urged on Thursday policymakers to immediately seek new innovation to address Indonesia's skyrocketing fuel demand amid a continuous decrease in domestic supply.
"Up to 50 percent of fuel consumed is produced in the country, while we remain dependent on imports for the remaining 50 percent. I feel this is a very dangerous situation for us to be in the future, especially if we cannot come up with new research or new innovation to fully ensure energy security," he said during the opening of the fourth National Energy Board (DEN) meeting.
BMI Research, a unit of Fitch Group, has predicted fuel demand will rise to 2.28 million barrels of oil per day (bopd) by 2025 from the current 1.78 million bopd.
Although state-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina has set a target to build and upgrade existing refineries to increase its production capacity to 2.6 million bopd by 2030, BMI Research still holds firm that fuel imports will skyrocket to 1.4 million bopd in 2025 from the current 941,000 bopd.
President Jokowi said Indonesia should take advantage of renewable energy, such as from crude palm oil (CPO), of which Indonesia is the world's biggest producer.
He also suggested further studies on capitalizing biomass and coal. (ren)
