Minister Of Energy And Mineral Resources Reaffirms Fuel Prices And LPG Will Not Increase Until June

(Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - In the midst of the heated tension of conflict between Iran and Israel, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Arifin Tasrif ensured that the price of fuel, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), and electricity will remain in detention until June 2024. The government will maximize the existing stock to withstand fuel prices.

"Yesterday we discussed the meeting time, so we are still holding it until June. We are trying to do it with the existing stock. After June there must be (evaluation) if this conflict does not end, there must be appropriate steps," Arifin told the media quoted on Saturday, April 20.

Arifin said that the June election to be held and then evaluated was considered so that the public would not be burdened with price increases.

"We have said that until June, the consideration is that we have just recovered, this community should not be subject to additional burdens, that's all, but then we will take Presidential Decree 191 so that LPG subsidies can be more targeted," said Arifin.

Arifin also explained that if the conflict between Iran and Israel continues to heat up and lasts long, the Government will seek new sources of supply that are not affected by conflicts, for example from African countries.

"If you look at the mapping, we can see that from some Africa, it doesn't pass (Horruz Strait), such as Guyana and Mozambique," explained Arifin.

Meanwhile, the long-term strategy that will be carried out by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources for national energy security in the availability of fuel and LPG, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources will encourage increased national oil and gas production, such as in Cepu and Rokan, including the Buton.

"Then the other one with the prospect was at Buton, offshore, southeastern Sulawesi owned by Pertamina, when in early 2019-2020 we made geoseismics, one of which was to find the mappings. So we are pushing Pertamina to immediately develop the Buton field, heavy oil, but the amount is large, the potential can be 5 billion barrels, but if it can be taken, 20 percent is already 1 billion barrels. later we will encourage this so that it can be accelerated," concluded Arifin.