NUNIEK cannot remember liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) ever being cheap. For ages now, this owner of a restaurant in the Manggarai area of South Jakarta has had to spend millions of rupiah a week on LPG.

It’s a different story in neighboring countries. Look at what’s been happening in the Philippines, for example. Last week, the Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation oil and gas company reduced its LPG prices by 11 percent. The price of LPG in