Conflict Between Russia And Ukraine, ESDM: The Trend Of Oil Prices Will Continue To Increase

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara/Shutterstock)

JAKARTA - The trend of world oil prices continues to increase, as is the case with the Indonesia Crude Price (ICP).

ICP, which since the beginning of the pandemic or April 2020 has been at 20 US dollars/barrel, has now increased more than 4 times to reach 85.9 US dollars/barrel as of January 2022.

On the other hand, the ICP assumption in the 2022 State Budget is only USD 63/barrel. The trend will intensify after today's latest conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

"Today, as is known, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and taking place in the midst of the Covid pandemic, has made the trend in oil prices which have been increasing, will continue to increase," said the Head of the Bureau of Communications, Public Information Services and Cooperation of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Agung Pribadi in Jakarta in his statement quoted on Friday, February 25.

Agung Pribadi added that today's oil price is getting higher.

"Today's Brent oil price has broken above US$100 per barrel. On the other hand, the ICP assumption in the 2022 State Budget is only US$63 per barrel. We continue to monitor this and need to pay attention to all parties," explained Agung.

The trend of rising prices, and the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, continues to be a concern for the Government. Some of Indonesia's crude oil and fuel oil (BBM) are still imported.

ICP in the last 6 months has shown an upward trend, starting in August 2021 at 67.8 US dollars/barrel and continuing to increase every month until January 2022, which is 72.2 US dollars/barrel (Sep), 81.8 US dollars/barrel (Oct), 80.1 v/barrel (Nov), USD 73.4/barrel (Dec), and in January 2022 it was USD 85.9/barrel.

"If you look further, the increase began to occur after the low ICP in April 2020 around 20 US dollars per barrel," he concluded.