Trump Wants To Access Indonesian Mineral Sources, Ministry Of Energy And Mineral Resources: Go Ahead

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) responded to the statement by the President of the United States (US) Donald Trump who wants to fully access Indonesia's leading commodities, including mineral resources such as copper.

Director General of Mineral and Coal at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Tri Winarno, said that free access to Indonesian mineral commodities had actually been open for a long time.

"If it's free access, so far we've been open, right, for minerals, yes, we're open. Who wants to buy from us, go ahead. So yes, it's not too (impact)," Tri said as quoted by ANTARA, Wednesday, July 16.

Previously, Trump not only imposed a 19 percent import rate on Indonesian products entering his country, but also an agreement that includes Indonesia's commitment to buy energy from the US worth 15 billion US dollars.

When asked whether Indonesia has the potential to carry out a transition plan for most imports of fuel oil (BBM) from Singapore to the US following these negotiations, Tri said it would be considered through two main factors.

"In principle, it's economic and geopolitical, that's all, right. Yes, as long as it benefits us, why not?" Tri said.

Separately, Vice President of Corporate Communication of PT Pertamina (Persero) Fadjar Djoko Santoso said that some time ago his party had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with several partners in the US related to optimizing the procurement of feedstock or crude oil for Pertamina refineries in Indonesia.

Regarding the volume and value, he said this could not be conveyed because it was still in the negotiation process and continued to grow.

In addition, Fadjar said, Pertamina also opened the possibility of optimizing the increase in LPG.

Until now, the commodities discussed related to the purchase of energy from the US, namely crude oil and LPG.

The implementation of the energy import will be carried out in stages.

In addition, Fadjar still has not disclosed who the US partners signed the MoU with Pertamina.