Posted on 05/17/2004 4:39:55 PM PDT by Truth666
Indonesia, Asia's only member of OPEC, imported an average 484,000 barrels of crude oil per day in March, and exported 448,000 b/d, a government official told Dow Jones Newswires Monday.
Imports rose further to 503,000 b/d in April, while exports dropped to 413,000 b/d, the official said on condition of anonymity. Indonesia releases the value of monthly oil and gas trade, but doesn't separately detail figures for crude.
The country has often been a net importer of refined oil products, but this is the first time it has brought in more crude from abroad than it has exported.
Last November, oil minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said output would increase from just over 1.0 million b/d then by some 150,000 b/d in 2004.
Indonesia's crude oil output was around 980,000 b/d in April, according to a recent survey by Dow Jones Newswires, down from over 1.3 million b/d three years ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at sg.biz.yahoo.com ...
A few months ago China went from being an oil exporter to an oil importer in sum.
$1.50 per gallon gasoline is probably gone forever.
It is startling to read that an OPEC member has become a net importer of oil, but perhaps less so when you consider that Indonesia is not in the Gulf States' league when it comes to oil production. More significantly, Indonesia is the largest OPEC member in population, and (I'll bet this will come as a surprise to some) it's the 4th-largest country in the world in population, with a population of 220 million or so, it trails only China, India, and the United States (there is, of course, a huge gap between #2 India and #3 USA).
As the economies of not only the developed world, but also the developing world, heat up, those who once walked can now afford to buy mopeds; those who had mopeds can now buy motorcycles; those who had motorcycles can now buy small cars, etc.
Oil consumption in Indonesia is bound to skyrocket; I have no idea what their untapped oil reserves are, but my guess is their status as a net importer of oil may be permanent.
I still was able to keep the two weeks range for my predictions ... actual : $42.37
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