RI could face trouble if crude oil price remains high: Purnomo

Indonesia would face a deeper economic crisis if the world market price of crude oil stays at more than US$40 per barrel, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro said in Jakarta on Monday.

?Indonesia will face more trouble if the world market price of crude oil remains high.? Purnomo told the Antara news agency on Monday after signing an agreement on the resumption of the construction of a hydrothermal power plant.

Purnomo, rotating president and secretary general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), said the oil cartel will discuss a plan to raise its oil production, when it meets in Amsterdam on May 19.

The meeting, he said, will likely discuss Saudi Arabia?s proposal to raise the OPEC quota by 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd), allowing the organization to produce 25 million bpd again.

House of Representatives and the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources have assumed an oil production of 1.1 million bpd and a price of $24 per barrel for the draft state budget for 2005. (*)