Government Wants to Buy Oil from Russia, Can Pertamina Process It into Fuel?
Corporate Secretary of Pertamina Patra Niaga, Roberth MV Dumatubun, stated that Pertamina’s refineries are capable of processing crude oil from Russia. This statement relates to the government’s plan to purchase crude oil from Russia.
“Regarding crude from Russia, Pertamina’s refinery units are able and can process it into refined products from that crude,” said Roberth in Jakarta on Tuesday (14/4/2026).
Roberth conveyed that Pertamina will follow the government’s directives and policies on crude oil trade, including imports from Russia.
“Pertamina will certainly support and participate in providing domestic energy as well as its distribution, from processing to becoming products,” said Roberth.
Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bahlil Lahadalia shared the results of his meeting with Russian Energy Minister Sergey Tsivilev. This discussion is a follow-up to the conversation between President Prabowo Subianto and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin. The bilateral meeting held on Tuesday (14/4/2026) focused on efforts to ensure national energy availability amid global dynamics, including through cooperation in supply and energy sector investments.
“Today, I have just finished a bilateral meeting with the Russian Energy Minister to follow up on the agreement from the discussion between President Prabowo and President Putin. Alhamdulillah, we obtained quite good results, where we can increase our crude reserves. In addition, we can also obtain LPG,” said Bahlil in an official statement from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources on Tuesday (14/4/2026).
Russia expressed its readiness to support Indonesia’s energy needs, covering crude oil and natural gas supplies, including LPG, as well as the development of storage facilities. Several Russian energy companies attended the forum, including Rosneft, Ruschem, Zarubezhneft, and Lukoil. Their presence strengthens the commitment of the business sector to support the realisation of energy supply cooperation.
“We want all of this to truly provide certainty for national energy resilience,” said Bahlil.
He explained that the cooperation scheme will be implemented through a government-to-government (G2G) and business-to-business (B2B) approach. This not only guarantees supply but also opens broader investment opportunities in the energy sector.
Bahlil added that the cooperation also has the potential to be expanded to the development of crude oil storage facilities (crude storage), long-term energy supply contracts, to exploring nuclear energy and the minerals sector. According to him, the results of this meeting serve as a positive signal amid global uncertainties affecting the stability of the world’s energy supply. Russia is considered a strategic partner with large production capacity that can support Indonesia’s energy needs.
“Once again, I am pleased today because of President Prabowo’s directives to follow up thoroughly. Insya Allah, we can achieve good results,” he said.
Russian Energy Minister Sergey Tsivilev expressed his country’s readiness to strengthen collaboration with Indonesia. He stated that the cooperation covers the provision of oil and gas, storage facilities, to electricity, including nuclear power plants.