Our diminishing oil reserves

Indonesia's predicate as an oil exporting country will be gone before very long. Economist Dr. Hadi Soesastro, speaking at a seminar in Jakarta last week, said that at the beginning of the 21st century Indonesia will enter a new phase as an importer of energy, particularly oil. The reason is that our economic growth target has been raised from 6.2 percent to 7.1 percent a year. Consequently, our oil consumption will increase at the same rate, but oil production only at the rate of 3 percent a year.

Converting and diversifying our energy resources has long been in the planning but a long time will be needed before the efforts can bring substantial results. This means that our dependency on oil as a main energy resource will continue. However, because oil will become an increasingly scarce commodity and Indonesia will become an oil importing country, it is inevitable that oil prices in Indonesia, without subsidies, will eventually reflect international levels. As a result we must be prepared to see ever increasing fuel prices.

In the light of such a situation we need to start creating the conditions necessary for our people to accept the changing reality without serious upheaval.

-- Suara Karya, Jakarta