Eddy Soeparno Backs Prabowo's Instructions to Increase Indonesia's Oil and Gas Reserves

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia — Deputy Speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) from the National Mandate Party (Partai Amanat Nasional, PAN) faction Eddy Soeparno has voiced support for President Prabowo’s directive to raise the national oil and gas reserves to 90 days from the current 20 days. ‘Every country with oil and gas needs to drive its economy requires availability and reliability of supply, so that various sectors such as fertilisers, petrochemicals and transport can continue to operate in the face of geopolitically tense conditions as we are experiencing now,’ Eddy said in a press statement on Friday (6 March 2026). ‘Because Indonesia is a net importer of oil and gas, I agree with President Prabowo’s instruction to increase national strategic oil and gas reserves to 90 days,’ he added. According to Eddy, strengthening the resilience of the oil and gas stockpile is crucial at a time when global oil and gas supplies are disrupted by the conflict raging in the Middle East. He explained that we are not only talking about availability of supply, but more than that reliability of supply. ‘It is hard to imagine the oil and gas reserves being exhausted and we have not obtained additional supply. The mobility of people and practical industrial activity would halt. Cars and motorbikes would not move, flights would be grounded at airports and ships would queue in ports,’ he said. ‘Not to mention industries that rely on oil and gas as feedstocks: fertiliser plants, plastic manufacturers, and petrochemicals would stop producing. Therefore, we must strengthen national energy security by increasing the volume of the strategic oil and gas reserves in line with President Prabowo’s directive,’ he added. According to this UI political science PhD, no one can predict when the Iran–US and Israel conflicts will end. Therefore Indonesia needs to act promptly. ‘Steps that can be taken include diversifying import supply to ensure oil and gas supplies from countries outside the Middle East can be obtained for Indonesia,’ he said. He then explained the urgency of building storage capacity for oil and gas that must be prioritised. ‘We also urge the provision of budget to build additional storage capacity, as well as the purchase of oil and gas commodities that will serve as a domestic energy buffer in emergency conditions,’ Eddy stated. ‘Therefore, we support the establishment of a ’National Petroleum Fund’ which among other things can be used to strengthen domestic energy resilience,’ he asserted. Eddy also views that thickening national oil and gas reserves will remain beneficial even if geopolitical conditions are normal. ‘In non-crisis/non-emergency periods these buffer reserves can act as a cushion against commodity price volatility, at a time when oil and gas prices rise sharply in the future,’ Eddy said. ‘The current geopolitical crisis and war in the Middle East demonstrate that energy resilience is vital for the sustainability of Indonesia’s economy. Therefore, energy resilience should be equated with national resilience,’ said the PAN Deputy Chairman.