Bahlil Discusses Active Free Economy: We Can Shop in Any Country
Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Bahlil Lahadalia discussed the government’s commitment to the principle of active free politics, which is also applied to economic policies, including meeting national energy needs. The Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Bahlil Lahadalia stated that Indonesia is free to cooperate with various countries as long as it respects the commitments already agreed upon.
“The Indonesian government always prioritises active free politics, and within active free politics, there is also an active free economy. So we can shop anywhere as long as we are committed to the people or countries with which we have agreed to cooperate, including Russia, then Africa, Nigeria, and more specifically, what we also value is including our agreement with America,” Bahlil said to reporters at the Presidential Palace Complex, Jakarta, on Thursday (16/4/2026).
Regarding the fulfilment of oil fuel, he said that the current national need is around 1.6 million barrels per day, while domestic oil lifting is only in the range of 600 to 610 thousand barrels per day. This condition means Indonesia still has to import around 1 million barrels per day.
“In the midst of this global situation, we must be able to seek oil reserves from various sources, not just from one country but from almost all countries,” he said.
In a dynamic global situation, Bahlil emphasised the importance of diversifying energy supply sources. According to him, the government cannot rely on just one country but must open opportunities for cooperation with various parties to maintain national energy resilience.
As done during President Prabowo Subianto’s visit to Russia some time ago. On Prabowo’s orders, Bahlil has met with Russian envoys to follow up on long-term cooperation.
“Alhamdulillah, yesterday on the direction of the President, I met with the Minister of ESDM and a special envoy from President Putin, and the news is Alhamdulillah quite encouraging that we will receive crude supplies from Russia and also from the Russian side they are ready to build several important infrastructures in order to increase our national reserves and energy resilience,” he said.
In addition to crude oil, the government is also seeking to diversify LPG supplies. Currently, Indonesia still imports around 7 million tons of LPG per year. Bahlil said that the process of exploring cooperation for LPG is still ongoing and requires several stages of further communication.
“In addition, we are also communicating regarding LPG. We know that our LPG is around 7 million tons imported every year and now we are doing diversification and Insyaallah we will also get support, but this one still needs effort, still needs two or three stages of communication, but for the crude, I think it’s almost final,” he said.
Bahlil emphasised that Indonesia’s steps will not disrupt cooperation with other countries, including the United States. He stressed that the national crude needs of around 300 million barrels per year must be met from various sources that are most beneficial to the country.
“The next question is certainly whether by us buying crude from Russia then how about our agreement with other countries including America? I say that our crude needs every year is around 300 million barrels so we take whatever is beneficial for our country, we must do it,” he said.