The reality this year is that Indonesia is still heavily dependent on fossil fuels as a main energy source. Indonesia's oil production has been steadily decreasing down to 950.000 BOPD, while on the other hand the demand constantly rises. To cover the lack of oil in the country, Indonesia imports 600.000 BOPD. Priyono pointed out that Indonesia is not an oil- and gas-rich country. "Our oil reserves will only last 12 years if managed with the current mechanism and speed, gas for about 40 years, and coal 140 years," he explained. This is caused by various obstacles in the field, and the addition of relatively few oil fields compared to demand.

It is important for our country, Priyono continues, to determine what energy sources are limited or abundant, which are sustainable, and to determine the usage priorities. Socialization to the society will also be an important issue which must be done to create the image that oil and natural gas can overcome the problem. "It turns out that potential alternative energy sources need to be developed now, and this is cheaper, if only the facilities are developed," he said.

The investment climate in upstream oil activities must be developed well by the government. Indonesia in particular does not currently have a healthy investment climate because of, for example, the difficulty of land acquisition, overlapping land, permissions, and decentralization. "It is actually always coordinated at the central level, however, there are many obstacles in each region which is the consequence of regional autonomy," he explained.

Priyono emphasized the importance of intensification of the current oil and gas fields, such as obtaining more accurate and current field data to better attract investors, for example subsurface for the geophyical aspect. Obtaining data is not very expensive, and it can be resold. In using energy as in many other things, we need to be concerned with the nation's economic growth.

About R. Priyono

R. Priyono was boen in Pati, Central Jaga, 12 September 1956. Priyono began his career in the General Directorate of Oil and Natural Gas, Department of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) as a staff of Exploration and Exploitation Equipment Technology, Directorate of Oil and Gas Business Development. On 29 April 2008, R. Priyono was appointed by the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources at the time, Purnomo Yusgiantoro, to act as the head of BPMIGAS.