Deputy Speaker of the MPR Urges Government to Watch Out for the Impact of the Middle East Conflict on Oil and Gas Imports

Deputy Speaker of the MPR from the PAN faction, Eddy Soeparno, urged the Directorate General of Oil and Gas at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) and Pertamina to watch out for competition in oil and gas imports from countries that rely more on Middle East supplies than Indonesia does. ‘Currently, Indonesia imports 20 per cent of its oil and gas needs from the Middle East. The remainder is imported from Nigeria, Angola, Australia and even Brazil. In other words, Indonesia is able to rely on and even increase its oil and gas supply from countries outside the Middle East should Middle East oil and gas supply be disrupted due to the closure of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz,’ Eddy said in a statement on Saturday, 7 March 2026. However, Eddy noted that Indonesia should keep an eye on other countries such as China, India, Japan and South Korea which have import volumes larger than Indonesia, both in absolute terms and from Middle East sources. ‘China, for example, imports around 11 million barrels per day of oil and gas, followed by India around 6 mb/d, and Japan and Korea around 2-2.5 mb/d,’ Eddy said. ‘If the share of their imports from the Middle East is around 55-60 per cent for China and India, and 80-90 per cent for Japan and Korea, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz would cause these countries to immediately redirect their oil and gas imports from alternative suppliers who also supply Indonesia,’ he added. ‘In other words, Indonesia could be ’competing’ for oil and gas with other giant importers,’ he explained. ‘Given this, the Doctor of Political Science from Universitas Indonesia (UI) urged Pertamina to anticipate the worst-case scenario should supply be disrupted and oil prices rise higher than they are now,’ he said. ‘First, we need to ensure commitments from oil-supply countries to Indonesia are not shaken. Second, we need to anticipate further spikes in oil and gas prices in the event of damage or destruction to oil fields and infrastructure in major oil producers such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain, which have recently been heavily targeted by Iranian missiles,’ he said. ‘Third, diversifying imports from other countries such as the United States should be accelerated, especially since we already have trade agreements that require Indonesia to purchase crude oil, LNG, LPG and other petroleum products,’ he added. Furthermore, Eddy reminded that in disruptive conditions due to the war in the Middle East, Indonesia must ensure the availability and reliability of oil and gas supplies to safeguard national energy security. ‘After Covid-19, this is the era of a new global disruption we face, where countries around the world will prioritise domestic interests over others on the grounds of emergencies. Therefore Indonesia’s oil and gas needs—and those of other countries—are not merely about ’availability’, but about the ‘reliability’ of energy supplies for domestic needs,’ he concluded. ‘Ultimately, the ongoing warfare and potential global energy crisis make it more urgent to raise energy resilience to be on par with national resilience,’ concluded the member of Commission XII of the DPR (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat).