Parliament Urges Government to Strengthen National Fuel Oil Reserves
Ratna Juwita Sari, a member of Commission XII of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR), has called on the government to strengthen the country’s national fuel oil (BBM) reserves to enhance Indonesia’s energy resilience. Ratna has assessed that Indonesia’s current fuel oil stock remains relatively low compared with energy security standards in many other countries.
“We have confirmed that, according to the statement of the Energy and Mineral Resources Minister, the availability of our fuel oil fluctuates at around 21 days,” she stated in an official announcement on Thursday, 12 March.
In her view, this condition needs to be improved urgently so that Indonesia has stronger energy reserves to cope with global dynamics. She also requested that Pertamina increase reserves to at least approach the standard of other nations, which is approximately 90 days.
Ratna added that the government should consider strategic policies to ensure domestic energy supply remains secure, including maximising domestic oil production.
“We hope the government will soon prepare regulations so that crude oil produced in Indonesia is held first and used to meet domestic needs,” she explained.
The PKB faction politician also assessed that such a policy is very feasible to implement. This is because domestic oil refineries are already capable of processing crude oil from domestic production.
“We have confirmed with Pertamina that our refineries can process crude oil produced from domestic production,” she said.
With this measure, Ratna hopes Indonesia can strengthen national energy resilience whilst ensuring that fuel oil availability remains secure for the public, particularly during periods of increased mobility such as the Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr season.
With reserves of approximately 20 days, fuel oil will not be depleted after this period, as the government through Pertamina will continue to stabilise stock levels.
Experts assess positively various supply planning by Pertamina, ranging from refinery production to energy imports. Vietnam’s government has established a special task force to ensure national energy supply, a measure taken to anticipate the adverse effects of the Middle East conflict on fuel oil stocks and industry.
An academic from Unsoed has warned that the Middle East conflict is testing Indonesia’s energy resilience, and observers note the impact of rising oil prices on the state budget and inflation. A member of Commission I of the DPR from the NasDem Party faction has expressed deep concern about the escalation of attacks between the United States, Israel and Iran.
PT PLN (Persero), through its North Sumatra Development Unit, is strengthening the backbone of the electrical system on the West Coast of Aceh, particularly in South Aceh District.