Upstream director Syamsul Alam of state-owned energy firm Pertamina has called on the government to declare that the country is facing an energy crisis, as it is now a net oil importer and would soon become a net gas importer, kompas.com reported on Wednesday.

Syamsul said that current global oil reserves was 1,700 billion barrels, while Indonesia had oil reserves of only 3.7 million barrels, about 0.2 percent of the global reserves.

If the government was targeting annual economic growth of 5 percent, it needed to use more than just petroleum as its main energy source, but also natural gas as well, he said.

He added that this was because renewable energy sources like solar, hydropower, wind and geothermal still played an insignificant role in powering the nation.

“The government does not need to hide the condition of the Indonesian oil and gas [industry],” said Syamsul, adding that with the current level of natural gas exploitation, Indonesia would become net natural gas importer by 2023.

He revealed that Indonesia produced 800,000 barrels of crude oil per day, while Indonesian oil refineries had the capacity to produce 1 million barrels per day. As a result, the government needed to import 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day for optimum production.

The country consumes 1.4 million barrels of oil per day.

The State-owned Enterprises Ministry is establishing an oil and gas holding company and assigning Pertamina to head other state-owned energy companies, including PT Perusahaan Gas Negara. (bbn)