ESDM Minister Asks Labuan Bajo DPPU To Increase Security Level And Logistics Operational Arrangement

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Arifin Tasrif. (Photo: Maria Trisnawati/VOI)

JAKARTA - Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Arifin Tasrif today reviewed several points of Oil and Gas Fuel infrastructure, namely the Fishermen's General Fuel Filling Station (SPUBN) and the Labuan Bajo Aircraft Filling Depot (DPPU).

Arifin appealed to PT Pertamina (Persero) to anticipate a surge in demand considering that Labuan Bajo is the government's priority tourism.

"We have to anticipate that this area will have a lot of tourist visits. Of course, the need for avtur and fuel will increase," he said during a live review in Lauan Bajo, Friday, June 24.

To take into account these conditions, Arifin asked Pertamina to also increase the level of security (safety) and logistics network in each fuel infrastructure.

"This is still too simple, we ask to improve the logistics so that it can be more efficient and economical," he added.

The government hopes that the structuring of logistics operations will have an impact on efficiency considering the current high spike in world oil prices.

"Currently, world oil prices are above 100 to 120 US dollars per barrel. The economic price of RON 90 and RON 92, on average, is above Rp. 30,000. We must anticipate this because the energy crisis situation cannot be predicted to end this year or much longer," he continued.

Furthermore, he compared the price of fuel in Indonesia which is much cheaper.

"Pertalite (RON 90) only sells for IDR 7,650, Pertamax (RON 92) we sell for IDR 12,500. Therefore, we need to remind the public to use fuel as efficiently as possible. This has an impact on (swelling) the allocation of subsidies," he explained.

Specifically for fisherman services, Arifin revealed that there are several fuel needs that have not been met.

"There is already a mechanism, the Governor of NTT will help resolve it, hopefully a permanent recommendation will be issued as soon as possible," he said.

The government also responded well to the report.

For Arifin, the need for fuel for the community must be prioritized. For this reason, the government will consider increasing the allocation of fuel.

"If fishermen need it, the government must respond. There are only rules, how is the mechanism for giving it, for example for fishermen whose ships are 3 gross tonnage (GT)," he said.

Even so, Arifin appreciated the performance of strict supervision over the distribution of subsidized and non-subsidized fuel in East Nusa Tenggara.

Not only that, the realization of the distribution of subsidized fuel in East Nusa Tenggara reached 44 percent until June 19, 2022.

"Distribution is quite good. The community is quite orderly. We hope that in particular the border areas will be monitored," he said.

Based on data from PT Pertamina (Persero), until June 20, 2022, the realization of Pertalite fuel in East Nusa Tenggara reached 152,829 kilo liters, while the realization of diesel fuel reached 65,646 KL.