Indonesia Min Plans 50% Cut in Oil Use by 2015

As global oil prices hover around record $60 per barrel levels, Indonesia plans to halve costly domestic crude oil consumption and double liquefied natural gas and coal output by 2015, the country’s economic planning czar said recently.

Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Aburizal Bakrie, told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview that the government’s ambitious energy diversification and conservation campaign aimed to reduce Indonesia’s domestic crude oil consumption to 30% of the country’s total energy mix from a current level of 60% within 10 years.

The government will offset that reduction by doubling LNG and coal use from current levels of about 5% and 15%, respectively, in the same time period.

“We’ve changed our thinking,” Bakrie said.

“The government won’t any longer use energy (sources) that are expensive and not widely available in Indonesia and (instead) we’re going to export more oil.”
Dow Jones Newswires via Yahoo! Finance