Jakarta. Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Arifin Tasrif on Friday called for the increased utilization of domestic gas reserves while aiming to curtail the dependency on imports, particularly liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), which burdens the state budget.

“Our LPG import exceeds 5.5 million tons a year and the figures continue to increase, while we have surpluses in gas production that we also sell to export markets,” Arifin said during the Indonesian Economic Outlook seminar in Jakarta.

He didn’t provide details about the national gas production, but data from the non-governmental group Energy Institute indicates a steady decline in the past decade.

Indonesian gas production stood at 57.7 billion cubic meters in 2022, down from 78.3 billion cubic meters a decade earlier, according to the Energy Institute.

Indonesia is one of the biggest natural gas producers in the world and the production level is expected to gain a new pace with the recent discovery of new reserves, Arifin said.

"We must build gas transmission infrastructure to facilitate the distribution of domestic LPG to households, restaurants, and hotels, thereby reducing our reliance on imported LPG," Arifin said.

To attain an economically viable scale in both gas production and distribution, the natural gas industry needs the development of supportive infrastructure and associated industries, he said.  

Earlier statements from the official revealed the discovery of 17 new gas fields across various locations, projecting a potential output of 1.2 million tons annually.