Bahlil: Indonesia Needs New BBM Storage to Target Three-Month Reserves

Jakarta — Energy and Mineral Resources Minister (ESDM) Bahlil Lahadalia said that storage capacity limitations are the main challenge in efforts to enlarge the national BBM reserves. He explained that Indonesia’s BBM storage capacity has long been limited to around 25 days at most. Therefore, the minimum standard for national reserves sits at between 20 and 23 days. ‘I must stress that our BBM storage capacity has long been only up to 25 days, at most. Therefore, our national reserves are at least 20 to 23 days,’ he said. According to him, the public cannot demand that stocks be increased to 60 days without looking at the available infrastructure capacity. ‘It’s not that we lack reserves to supply fuel, but now where to store it? Our storage is not adequate,’ he said. Bahlil said the President has given directions for the government to immediately build new storage facilities to strengthen national energy resilience. With this infrastructure addition, he said, the government targets that BBM reserves can be increased in the future to three months. Regarding the plan for storage development locations, Bahlil revealed that one of the best alternatives ever studied was in the Sumatra region. The government is now finalising the next steps to realise the additional storage capacity.