The value of non-renewable resources is predominantly determined by the relative scarcity of the resource in combination with its exploitability for industrial use. This means that the natural resources that can be found on the territory of a state often decide its position in the global economy and thus its political influence. However, industrialized countries are less dependent on natural resources for their wealth because they have more infrastructure capital. Given its economic situation, Indonesia depends on the depletion of natural resources. Thanks to its geological location and large surface area, Indonesia is very rich in resources. It can produce a large variety of minerals at a very high level. To a large extend, the gas and oil reserves are increasingly used for Indonesia’s own economy. Therefore, among other reasons, the value of crude oil and gas exports has decreased in the past years.
Indonesia had a proven amount of oil reserves of approximately 3.2 billion barrels in 2018, while only producing approximately 0.3 billion billion barrels of crude oil in the year 2017. As an archipelago with over 17,000 islands, Indonesia faces difficulties in reaching and exploiting their oil reserves. The same applies to the natural gas reserves. Coal production on the other hand requires less complex and less expensive extraction methods, making it more economically valuable to Indonesia. Thanks to this and its geographic location close to emerging markets like India and China, Indonesia could gradually increase their coal production in the past 20 years.
Minerals are becoming increasingly important for a large variety of industries especially in the electronics sector. In 2014, the Indonesian government implemented a ban on exports of unprocessed minerals hoping to subsidize producing industries in Indonesia. The most important minerals found and produced in Indonesia are tin, bauxite, nickel, gold and copper.
