Deal with Putin: Prabowo Secures Russian Oil Supply

Indonesia has successfully secured a supply of crude oil from Russia. This agreement was obtained after President Prabowo Subianto met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Monday (13/4) last week.

The Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), Bahlil Lahadalia, stated that in addition to obtaining the crude oil supply, Russia has also committed to investing in energy infrastructure development projects in Indonesia.

“We will receive crude supplies from Russia, and the Russian side is also ready to build several important infrastructures to increase our national reserves and energy resilience,” said Bahlil at the Presidential Palace in Central Jakarta on Thursday (16/4/2026).

Bahlil said this investment plan is one of the discussion points in his meeting with the Russian ESDM Minister and Putin’s special envoy, as a follow-up to Prabowo’s directives.

Nevertheless, according to him, this investment plan still needs further discussion with Russian representatives. Therefore, he has not yet been able to confirm details of the investment, such as the amount of funds to be injected or the locations of the facilities to be built.

“That was one of the points we discussed yesterday, that there are indeed several of their investments ready to enter. But the finalisation awaits one or two more rounds with us. Specifically for refineries and storage. We will convey it later,” he said.

However, what is certain, according to Bahlil, Russia’s investment in Indonesia’s energy sector will not be as large as the investment the Bear Country made in the Tuban Refinery project in East Java.

“In Tuban, many products are produced and the scale is large. But this one might be on a scale not as big as in Tuban. Give me time to finalise it,” said Bahlil.