Govt revises up crude oil prices at state budget to $28 per barrel
Wednesday, September 6 2000 - 04:00 AM WIB
The government is revising upward the assumption of crude oil prices in the state budget from the $20 per barrel now to $28 per barrel, starting October until December.
The director general of oil and gas at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Rachmat Sudibyo, said that the revision was based on the fact that crude oil prices in the period of April to August averaged at $28 per barrel.
He predicted that crude oil prices would remain stable in the next three months.
According to Reuters, crude oil prices continued to soar, reaching $34.05 per barrel in New York, rising by $0.67 from last weekend's closing level. This is the highest price since March.
Besides the crude oil, Rachmat said that the government was also revising the assumption of the rupiah's exchange rate against the dollar from Rp 7,000 per dollar now to Rp 8,200 per dollar for the period of October till December.
He noted that the planned 12 percent increase in domestic fuel prices were also based on the changed assumptions in the state budget.
Based on the planned new fuel prices, the government's income from the sales of fuels would increase to Rp 20.1 trillion from the current projection of Rp 19.3 trillion.
Domestic fuel consumption is predicted to reach 33.55 million kilo liters per annum or 3.3. kilo liters per month. (*)