JAKARTA: Soaring global liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices serve as a stark “wake-up call” over the nation’s dangerous reliance on imported energy, the president director of state-owned electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), Darmawan Prasodjo, warns.
Speaking before House of Representatives Commission XII overseeing energy and mineral resources on Monday, Darmawan detailed how escalating geopolitical tensions had pushed global oil prices briefly above US$100 per barrel, a surge that directly drove up LNG prices due to their correlation with crude oil.
PLN noted that LNG prices on the spot market have reached around US$19 to US$20 per million British thermal units (mmBtu). Darmawan calculated that this translates into a fuel cost alone of nearly 14 US cents per kilowatt-hour for electricity generation.
Fortunately, he said, Indonesia still receives a fixed-price gas allocation from domestic sources.
However, global supply constraints are mounting, with production disruption in Qatar amounting to around five million tonnes per year, a shortfall expected to take up to five years to restore.
“So what about the geopolitical situation? This is a wake-up call,” he said.
He went on to contrast the situation with prices on the Japan-Korea LNG market, where LNG is priced at US$9 per mmBtu, suggesting that while affordable cargoes remain available for now, the window may close.
“But for today, thank God, the government allocation is sufficient, so we do not need to import LNG. If we had to, it would be challenging.”
From an operational standpoint, PLN reported that gas reserves for power plants stood at roughly 12 days of operation, and coal reserves at 15.9 operating days, as of April.
PLN insisted that the national electricity system remains stable, with a net capacity of 71 gigawatts and a reserve margin of approximately 39% as of March.
Previously, PLN generation management director Rizal Calvary said the company was slated to receive 84 million tonnes of coal from eight major suppliers to power its coal-fired power plants, amid the government’s plan to cut the production quota this year.
However, Rizal explained that the firm would need another 40 million tonnes of coal to ensure smooth operations through the end of the year, bringing the total required volume for 2026 to 124 million tonnes.
“The current availability of coal at PLN is adequate, so there will be no potential for blackouts or power outages,” Rizal said in an official statement issued on March 6. — The Jakarta Post/ANN
