JAKARTA - Energy and Mineral Resources Minister (ESDM) Bahlil Lahadalia admitted that he did not sleep to find crude oil importing countries to fill the supply in the country. This import shift was carried out following the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East between the United States (US)-Israel and Iran, which raised concerns about the long-term closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
"At the order of President Prabowo, we didn't sleep. We keep looking for access, we keep looking for ways. Besides fasting, we don't sleep, our bodies are down," said Bahlil in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Podcast, quoted Thursday, March 12.
Bahlil explained that the Middle East is not the only source of Indonesia's crude oil but only 20-25 percent. According to him, Indonesia also imports crude from the United States, Latin America and countries in Africa.
In fact, he said, the process of switching imports from the Middle East had been carried out long before the conflict broke out.
"So even if the Strait of Hormuz is closed, for us to have 20-25 percent, we have already transferred it to other countries," continued Bahlil.
The Chairman of the Golkar Party said that although the import process of crude from the US takes longer distribution time compared to the Middle East, this process needs to be carried out for domestic oil supplies.
Furthermore, Bahlil also appealed to the public not to be fooled by the issue of fuel that will run out in the next 23 days. According to him, the figure of fuel stock equivalent to 23 days does not mean that the supply will run out in 23 days. The figure only describes the capacity of the stock stored in the storage tank at a time.
To clarify how the supply works, Bahlil gave a simple analogy, the fuel stock is like a water tower that will be automatically refilled when the volume decreases.
"If the fuel stock for 3 days is out, then the production at our refinery will also be out to fill the existing stock. Enter again, fill again, like a water tower in our house. Yes, like that. Water tower in the house, used for bathing, then the machine is immediately turned on again. So don't think that 21 days our oil is gone. That's not what it means," he explained.
According to Bahlil, the stock of fuel is dynamic because every day there is fuel distributed to meet the needs of the community, while at the same time new supplies are also continuing to enter, both from domestic refinery production and from imports.
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