"Indonesia must become an economic growth center, not as a mere energy supplier," Vice Presidential Spokesman Yopie Hidayat said here on Wednesday.
The vice president has ordered state-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina to follow the national gas grand design. This means that Pertamina must give priority to the gas need at home, including the gas produced in Natuna`s Alpha-D Block gas field.
He said that Pertamina and Exxon, Total and Petronas firms had signed a head of agreement. The production sharing contract is expected to be finalized early in May 2011.
In the meantime, Chief Economic Minster Hatta Rajasa said that meeting gas need at home constituted a national policy strategy.
"We are drafting the national gas policy," he said.
Hatta said that export would be carried out only if there was production surplus.
However, he was convinced that Indonesia would be able to export gas because Indonesia has large gas reserves. "It is impossible that all gas production would be used for domestic need, there must be surplus," he said.(*)
Editor: Ruslan Burhani
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
