JAKARTA, March 14 (Xinhua) -- The Indonesian government has prepared a policy to expand usage of gas, whose reserve is abundant in the country, in a bid to ease dependency on fossil fuel for its declining outputs.
Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Ignasius Jonan said on Tuesday that his ministry would unveil a rule requiring all fuel refilling stations to provide at least one fuel refilling machine facility for gas.
"We will immediately issue a regulation over obligation to provide a fuel dispenser for gas at each fuel refilling station. The issuance will be in one or two weeks," he said at Dharmawangsa Hotel.
Jonan said that the number of gas refueling facility remains low in the nation which has over 5,000 refueling stations, saying that the potential of gas consumption by land transport vehicles is high.
The planned policy aims at accelerating the government's program to shift the energy reliance from fossil fuel to gas, he added.
"This step is expected to speed up the conversion of fossil fuel to gas. The shifting can be classified success should most of cars consume gas," said Jonan.
Indonesia's oil output has been declining due to aging wells and subdued fresh investment, leading the country exiting from OPEC membership in 2008.
Currently Indonesia only has 3.7 billion proven oil reserves but has 104 trillion cubic natural gas proven reserves, according to data from the country's upstream regulator, SKK Migas. Enditem
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