State-owned energy firm Pertamina aims to reduce crude oil imports in 2018, Nanang Abdul Manaf, the president director of its upstream subsidiary PT Pertamina EP, said Wednesday.

Energy companies have continued to struggle and tend to postpone expansion and new exploration amid low global crude oil prices, he said.

“Wholly owned by the state, Pertamina cannot only think commercially. We have to contribute to the state,” he said during Joint Convention Malang (JCM) 2017 in Malang, East Java. The event was jointly organized by Indonesian Geophysics Experts Association (HAGI), Indonesian Geology Experts Union (IAGI), Association of Oil and Gas Production Facilities Indonesia (IAFMI) and Indonesian Petroleum Engineering Experts Union (IATMI).

He said Indonesia was projected to import 140 million barrels of crude oil in 2017, about 5 percent higher than 134 million barrels in 2016. To save foreign exchange (forex) reserves, Pertamina needs to reduce crude imports, he added. “In the future, we must be able to produce our own crude.”

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Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan, who also attended the event, said the oil and gas industry was no longer a major contributor to the country’s forex reserve.

Investment in the upstream oil and gas sector only reached US$3.96 billion in the first six months of the year, or 29 percent of the government’s end-of-year target of $13.8 billion.

“The government is working on the best formulas regarding shares of regional administrations in oil and gas companies, so all parties can equally benefit amid low oil prices,” the minister said. (bbs)