Russia-Ukraine War, Member Of Commission VII Of PKS Asks The Government To Anticipate Soaring Oil And Gas Prices

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The conflict between Russia and Ukraine is heating up. In fact, Russia has already declared war with Ukraine. As a result, the prices of international energy commodities such as oil and gas soared. Therefore, member of Commission VII DPR RI, Mulyanto, asked the government to anticipate this problem.

Mulyanto also reminded the government not to sacrifice the people by raising energy prices in the domestic market.

"The government (should) quickly anticipate these bad possibilities and not take the easy solution at the expense of the people by increasing the price of fuel, LPG and domestic electricity," he said, in Jakarta, Friday, February 25.

According to Mulyanto, the government must pay special attention and work extra hard to find a solution to the problem of the spike in world energy commodity prices. The goal is that this problem does not spread and have a negative effect on the national economy as a whole.

Moreover, said Mulyanto, Indonesia is currently included in the group of net oil and gas importing countries, especially fuel and LPG gas. The increase in world oil and gas prices will directly have a negative effect on the national economy.

"The government should not just be talkative by raising the prices of fuel, LPG and domestic electricity. If this step is taken, it is suspected that it can trigger inflation. The people who suffer are the general public," he said.

Mulyanto explained that recently the price of LPG and non-subsidized fuel has gone up. This includes cooking oil, soybeans and beef commodities. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic is still not going down and people's purchasing power has not fully recovered.

"So the government is asked not to add to this already heavy burden on the community," he said.

Reduce import dependency

According to Mulyanto, the government must also make various efforts to accelerate the reduction of dependence on international fuel and LPG gas.

"What is very urgent is the conversion of diesel power plants to gas or EBT, especially in the eastern part of Indonesia. In addition, the conversion of LPG gas for household and industrial use to natural gas," he explained.

In the short term, Mulyanto proposed that the government revive the national oil and gas saving movement. This is important, especially in the midst of a pandemic.

"In the long term, the electric car program, construction of oil refineries and increasing oil and gas lifting are very strategic. Unfortunately, these programs seem slow," he said.

For your information, international benchmark Brent crude futures rose 4.34 percent to 101.04 dollars per barrel, crossing the 100 dollar level for the first time since 2014.

So far this week, Europe's benchmark gas price has risen more than 65 percent from the level of 72.56 euros per kwh. In the UK, gas prices rose 23 percent, while gas prices in the US rose 6.5 percent to 4.92 US dollars per million British thermal units (mmBtu).

The increase in oil and gas prices will of course be followed by the strengthening of LPG prices. The reference price of LPG gas, Aramco's Contract Price (CPA), since entering 2021, has experienced a high increase. Realization from January-April 2021 reached 570 US dollars per metric ton, then increased to 847 US dollars per metric ton in November 2021.