INDONESIA - Jusuf Kalla.

The Vice President since Sept. 20, 2004, Jusuf is a political ally of Susilo. Lately he has been concentrating on efforts to improve incentives for foreign investments in Indonesia petroleum E&P and downstream sectors. Like President Susilo, Jusuf backs the country's accelerated shift to natural gas for energy and industrial feedstocks.

In May 2006, Kalla assured the public that the government had no immediate plans to raise domestic oil prices.

Because they are subsidised, domestic producers of fertilisers have expanded their plants and these use an increasing amount of natural gas. Likewise, the electric power sector is expanding and its use of natural gas has increased. As a result, exports of LNG have begun to decline (see Gas Market Trends No. 12 in gmt12IndnsGasExptMar19-07).