The Indonesian government is to increase crude oil imports under a direct purchase scheme to ensure supplies to domestic refineries in the long run, according to the Energy and Mineral Resources Minister, Sudirman Said, According to President Joko Widodo's directives, the government will find as much direct crude supply as possible from producers, Sudirman said on Friday.
"It is difficult to raise domestic oil production in the near future so it is important to ensure crude supplies," the Indonesian News Agency, ANTARA News, quoted him as saying. "The more oil suppliers, the healthier the oil prices will be," he said.
Just in the past couple of weeks, the government signed a contract with an Angolan oil producer Sonangol, he said.