Eddy Soeparno Dorong Penguatan Cadangan Migas Nasional
The Deputy Speaker of the Indonesian People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) from the PAN faction, Eddy Soeparno, has backed President Prabowo’s directive to raise the national oil and gas reserves to up to 90 days from the current level of 20 days. The move is intended to keep the wheels of the national economy turning.
“Every country that has a need for oil and gas to drive its economy domestically requires availability and reliability of supply so that various industrial sectors such as fertilisers, petrochemicals and transportation can continue to operate in times of geopolitical tensions as we are experiencing today,” Eddy said in a statement on Saturday (7 March 2026).
“Because Indonesia is a net importer of oil and gas, I agree with President Prabowo’s instruction that national strategic oil and gas reserves be increased to 90 days,” he added.
According to Eddy, strengthening the resilience of oil and gas reserves is very important at a time when global oil and gas supplies are disrupted due to the war raging in the Middle East.
Eddy explained that today we are not only talking about the availability of supply, but more than that the reliability of supply.
“It is unimaginable if the oil and gas reserves are drained and we have not obtained additional supply. Public mobility and industrial activities practically stop. Cars and motorcycles cannot move, aircraft are grounded at airports and ships will pile up at the ports,” he said.
“Not to mention industries that require oil and gas as feedstock: fertiliser plants, plastic manufacturers, petrochemicals will stop producing. Therefore, we must strengthen national energy resilience by increasing the volume of strategic oil and gas reserves in line with President Prabowo’s directives,” added Eddy.
According to this UI Political Science PhD, until now no one has been able to predict when the Iran-US and Israel war will end. Therefore Indonesia needs to act quickly.
“Steps that can be taken include diversifying import supplies to ensure oil and gas supply from countries outside the Middle East region can be obtained by Indonesia,” he said.
Next, Eddy explained the urgency of building storage capacity for oil and gas that should be prioritised.
“We also push for budgeting to build additional storage capacity, as well as purchases of oil and gas commodities that will become a buffer for domestic oil and gas in emergency conditions. Therefore we support the formation of the”National Petroleum Fund” which among others can be used to strengthen domestic energy resilience,” he explained.
Eddy also believes that thickening national oil and gas reserves will still be beneficial even if geopolitical conditions return to normal.
“In non-crisis periods/emergencies, this buffer can function as a dampener of price volatility in commodities, as oil and gas prices rise sharply in the future. The current geopolitical crisis and war in the Middle East teach that energy security is vital for the continuity of Indonesia’s economy. Therefore, energy resilience should be equated with national resilience,” Eddy concluded.
(akh/ega)