Faced with the soaring global price of oil, the world’s main source of energy, Asian countries are seeking to boost efforts to diversify energy sources and slow the persistent growth of oil consumption to ensure energy security in the foreseeable future, a senior official suggests.
Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry director general for oil and gas Evita Herawati Legowo called on governments across East Asia to utilize all energy sources available in their countries, both conventional and unconventional.
“In Indonesia, despite our high dependency on oil-based fuels, we’re very serious in developing our renewable energy sources, such as geothermal and bio-energy, as well as unconventional sources, including shale gas, tight gas and coal-bed methane [CBM],” she said at a discussion session titled “Overcoming Energy Security Challenges” at the World Economic Forum on East Asia in Jakarta on Sunday.
Evita said that Indonesia had not entirely dismissed the potential for using nuclear energy, despite the recent accident at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant. She said that she believed nuclear power was the most efficient way to provide electricity to improve public welfare.
“Nothing in the world is without risk,” Evita said.
National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) data shows that last year oil-based fuels still dominated Indonesia’s energy consumption, comprising 54.4 percent of all energy consumption, followed by natural gas at 26.5 percent and coal at 14.1 percent.
Alternative energy sources, including geothermal and hydroelectric, represent only 5 percent of the country’s total consumption.
Singapore-based Keppel Corporation chief executive officer Choo Chiau-Beng, who also spoke at the session, underlined the urgency of Asian countries to slow the growth of energy consumption by promoting more efficient utilization.
“Efficiency is the key word, together with the diversification of energy sources,” he said.
M. Arsjad Rasjid P. Mangkuningrat, president director of Indonesia’s third largest coal producer PT Indika Energy Indonesia, said that to promote energy efficiency, the government had to work harder in educating people that energy sources were scarce and expensive.
“People have to understand that accessing energy is costly, so that they will use it wisely,” he told the discussion.
He also suggested that governments in Asian countries, including Indonesia, lift energy subsidies. He argued that subsidies had spoiled people.
