REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said reported the reactivation of Indonesia's membership of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) here on Monday.

"Today, I met the President to report the outcome of the OPEC session," the minister said at the premises of the Presidential Palace here.

Among other developments, one was the OPEC session accepting the formal reactivation of Indonesia's membership of the world's oil cartel, he said.

Another result of the session was the inauguration of Widyawan Prawiraatmaja of Indonesia as the OPEC governor, he added.

In the near future, Indonesia will also send the names of its national representatives who will work for the OPEC Secretariat in Vienna, Australia, he said.

Read: Indonesia needs balance energy diversification as member of OPEC

With Indonesia rejoining the organization, the country is now again part of the community which plays a role in deciding global energy supplies, particularly from oil and gas, he said.

"Being a part of it all, we will be able to network and maintain close relations (with them), which will give us access to their thinking process in the future. We will then be able to use such knowledge as the basis to rearrange our energy strategies and policies," he said.

The move has been showing positive results, and also resulting in direct purchase of oil from producing countries, he said.

Citing an example, he said two weeks ago, the state oil and gas company Pertamina and Saudi Aramco signed an agreement to build an oil refinery. This means that there will be crude oil supplies to Indonesia.

Earlier, Widhyawan, who took up the post of Indonesian governor for the OPEC for the 2015-2017 term, said as a big country with high and increasing energy needs, Indonesia must ensure its energy resilience.

"Now, Indonesia is in the transition process which is dominated by a shift from fossil energy to new and renewable energy that is sustainable in the future," he said.

Indonesia, which had become an OPEC member in 1962, had quit the organization in 2008 after aging fields and declining production forced the country to boost imports as crude oil prices reached records.

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