Our diminishing oil reserves

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