President Chairs Meeting on Energy Issues

  Jakarta (Antara Bali) - President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo chaired a meeting to discuss energy issues, including fuel prices, here on Friday.

        "Yes, right (there is a meeting)," State Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno informed the press at the presidential palace.

         The meeting, which was closed to the press, also discussed the government's plan to reduce fuel prices.

         Earlier, Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Minister Sudirman Said remarked that the falling prices of oil will be used by the government to build a buffer oil stock and formulate a strategic operation to strengthen the country's energy security as recommended by the National Energy Council (DEN).

         "That is a good recommendation. In fact, we already have it long in our plan, but the opportunity has not come," Sudirman remarked on Thursday.

        Sudirman said the government already plans to form a strategic energy stock, but so far, the budget has been used for energy subsidy.

          "We will look for the right way to make full use of the oil price fall to build a stock," Sudirman stated.

          "Our national stock is only consumption stock, and there was no strategic stock," he added.

          Sudirman noted that Indonesia should ideally have a strategic energy reserve, especially oil, to guarantee supply for 30 days in the event of any emergency. 

      He noted that the government will soon go ahead with the plan as it already has the required fiscal room after the abolition of the subsidy on premium gasoline amid the shrinking oil prices. 

    "We continue to watch the falling prices. We are adjusting the price of fuel, and at the right time, it will be announced. But, first I have to revise the regulation of the ESDM minister," he remarked.

          On the previous day, Minister Sudirman stated that the government had reduced the fuel pricing period to biweekly from monthly as originally planned.

          "We have observed a drastic drop in the prices of fuel oils and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). On Friday, we will announce the new prices of fuel oils and LPG," he affirmed. (WDY)