Jakarta (AsiaNews) – Large-scale oil exporter Indonesia is facing a serious crisis of energy supply. Pertamina – the state-owned oil company – can no longer meet the high demand for gasoline and it has been forced to import stocks at excessive cost. The entire country must queues for hours at gas stations to get their tanks refilled. Several Indonesian experts have offered potential solutions to the problem which however may threaten social order.

Even before the alarm bells started to ring, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) had decided to allocate a special budget for Pertamina to purchase a greater quantity of gasoline. The initiative did not serve to evade the current crisis: in regions like Aceh, South Sulawesi West and East Java, citizens can no longer find gas or premium to buy. Kurtubi, an expert in the sector, yesterday intervened in a public meeting on the matter in Jakarta, saying: "The oil crisis is very serious".

The situation is not only due to the increased price of oil on the international market (more than 60 US dollars per barrel) but above all to the incapacity of Pertamina to meet internal demand. Kurtubi said the situation is radically different to what it was 20 yeas ago, when Pertamina managed to cope with national demand. "Today, demand has risen to 1.4 – 1.5 million barrels per day but the state company can only provide one million; the other 500,000 must be imported from the international market," said the expert. The price of oil is very high and Pertamina is not managing to buy all the oil necessary because of a limited government budget. One of Kurtubi's proposals is to increase the price of oil, an initiative which already months ago had led to nationwide protests on the streets.

Ismet Hasan Putro, chairman of the Indonesian Civil Society said: "In order to save the government budget, gasoline should be sold for 3,000 or 3,600 rupiahs per litre." He added: "The government is facing a serious problem: resolving the crisis of oil supply at a time when imminent social unrest is looming."