Govt needs $1.8b to develop 15-day strategic petroleum reserves
Wednesday, April 13 2016 - 02:47 AM WIB
The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources said that Indonesia needs Rp23.3 trillion or US$1.8 billion to develop a 15-day strategic reserve of crude and fuel over the next two to three years.
"We are requesting an allocation of funds for the next two to three years," Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Sudirman Said told a House of Representatives hearing, noting that the reserves would comprise 39.7 million barrels of crude and refined fuel products.
According to Sudirman, provision of a 15-day strategic reserves of fuel oil and crude oil at least needs a budget approximately Rp11.6 trillion and Rp11.7 trillion, respectively, bringing the total funds needed Rp23.3 trillion.
He said the government was in discussion with producers on utilizing idle storage capacity to hold oil it has purchased while developing the country's own storage tanks.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak