Indonesia hit by fuel shortages and power outages as energy crisis deepens

According to Nikkei Asia, a fuel supply crisis has spread across Indonesia's four largest islands for the past three weeks. In Jakarta, Surabaya and Medan, half of Pertamina stations switched to hourly rationing on Monday, with some drivers reporting waits of more than four hours. Power outages now reach six to eight hours a day in Java and Sumatra, and Bali faces four-hour scheduled cuts ahead of its tourism season. Pertamina chief executive Simon Aloysius Mantiri said at a press conference in Jakarta on Tuesday « we have a refinery maintenance backlog and our import procurement cycle is under pressure ».

The crisis emerged from overlapping trends. The Indonesian rupiah has fallen 11% against the dollar since the start of the year, directly inflating the cost of imported diesel and LNG. Planned maintenance at Pertamina's Cilacap refinery began in March and was extended due to limited spare parts; the plant is producing only 60% of its 348,000-barrel-per-day capacity. PLN said coal-fired plants in the Java-Bali grid are also out of service because of spare-parts delivery delays from China.

The government announced an emergency package on Tuesday. Energy Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said agreements have been signed for 3.2 million barrels of emergency diesel imports from Singapore and Brunei, to be delivered by 5 July. President Prabowo Subianto directed the Finance Ministry to accelerate a swap arrangement with Singapore. Goldman Sachs analysts now expect the crisis to cut Indonesia's 2026 growth forecast from 4.7% to 4.3%. On the Jakarta exchange, the IDX Composite fell 1.8% on Tuesday.