Indonesia Imports Oil from Russia: Will Relations with the US Remain Stable?

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - The government has successfully secured a supply of crude oil from Russia. Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Bahlil Lahadalia assured that this import decision must be made in the national interest to maintain energy resilience.

“Of course, the question then is, if we buy crude from Russia, what about our agreements with other countries, including the United States? I say that our annual crude needs are around 300 million barrels, so we take from everywhere; we must do what is beneficial for our country,” said Bahlil, after a limited meeting at the State Palace on Thursday (16/4/2026).

Bahlil explained that national fuel consumption currently stands at 1.6 million barrels per day, while domestic oil and gas production or lifting is around 600,000 to 610,000 barrels per day. Thus, Indonesia still requires imports of about 1 million barrels per day.

“In the midst of these global conditions, we must be able to source oil reserves from various places. Not just from one country, but from almost all countries,” said Bahlil.

Previously, this General Chairman of the Golkar Party met face-to-face with Russian Energy Minister Sergey Tsivilev on Tuesday (15/4/2026). This meeting was a follow-up to high-level discussions between President Prabowo and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin a day earlier.

From that meeting, the Indonesian government obtained commitments for crude oil supplies from Russia, although the volume has not yet been disclosed. Additionally, according to Bahlil, there are also commitments for investments from Russia to build infrastructure for energy resilience in Indonesia.

“Alhamdulillah, yesterday, following the President’s instructions, I met with the Energy Minister and a special envoy from President Putin, and the news is quite encouraging that we will receive crude supplies from Russia and that the Russian side is ready to build several important infrastructures to increase our national reserves and energy resilience,” said Bahlil.

According to Bahlil, the import volume from Russia is a confidentiality agreed upon by the two countries. “I can’t discuss the volume because of our agreement; we are not allowed to talk about the volume,” he stated.