Impossible for Indonesia to Rejoin OPEC, Lawmaker Says
8 June 2015 23:30 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Members of the House of Representatives’ Commission Seven that oversees energy and mineral resources Kurtubi said that Indonesia’s intention to rejoin OPEC (the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) is "impossible" to be materialized.
"The government now wants Indonesia to rejoin OPEC. It’s like dreaming in broad daylight. Our oil production is very low. Our oil imports are very big instead,” Kurtubi said.
According to Kurtubi, if the government wants the country to rejoin OPEC, the government has to state by improving the system of oil and gas management, which he deems ‘very disorganized’.
With the improvement, he added, investment climate will improve and it will lead to the increase in the finding of oil and gas reserves; and in turn will increase the country’s oil production.
"If we want to become an observer country, there’s no problem with that but we have no rights to speak. Any country can be an observing country,” he added.
He further said that when Indonesia was still an OPEC member, the country’s oil production was still very high and even reached 1.5 million barrel per day.
"Today, 60 percent of our oil needs has to be imported. The people have to know this. Our production drops because of mismanagement, not because there’s no oil left,” he concluded.
ANTARA
