In August 2022, the Indonesian government signaled an impending increase in the price of subsidized fuel (BBM). This signal came, among others, from Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Pandjaitan.
"The President might announce a fuel price increase next week. The President has indicated that we cannot continue to maintain the current price. It's too much of a burden on the state budget," said Luhut, as reported by *Katadata.co.id* on Thursday, August 25, 2022.
Meanwhile, in August 2022, the United States (US) government projected a decline in global oil prices starting in the third quarter of this year until the end of 2023.
This prediction was made by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) in its August 2022 edition of the *Short-Term Energy Outlook* report.
The report noted that the average quarterly price of Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil had steadily increased from Q1 2021 to Q2 2022.
However, from Q3 2022 to the end of 2023, the average quarterly price is projected to decline, as shown in the graph, although it will still be higher than before the Russia-Ukraine war.
The EIA also emphasized that this projection is subject to change due to various global factors.
"The projection is influenced by increased uncertainty due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, how sanctions affect Russian oil production, OPEC+ production decisions, the rate of increased US oil and natural gas production, and other factors," the EIA explained in its report.