Indonesia is opening its door for crude oil imports from Russia, following high-level discussions during President Prabowo Subianto’s recent visit to Moscow. 

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), Bahlil Lahadalia, confirmed that talks are progressing and will be followed by intensive meetings with Russian state-owned energy firms in Jakarta.

“We’ve initiated preliminary talks. Tomorrow, I will hold marathon meetings with Russian delegates, including executives from their state-owned enterprises. This shows there is import potential, but it must be mutually beneficial,” Bahlil told the Jakarta Geopolitical Forum IX/2025 on Tuesday, June 24, 2025.

He emphasized that Indonesia follows an independent and active foreign policy, both politically and economically, and is open to cooperation with any nation − as long as it brings mutual benefit, including in the oil and gas (O&G) sector.

Beyond imports, the collaboration also aims to boost Indonesia’s oil lifting capacity, particularly from aging oil wells and potential new fields. Bahlil acknowledged Russia’s extensive experience in the oil industry, stating that Indonesia is keen to learn and collaborate in order to revitalize underutilized oil assets.

“We recognize Russia as a country with deep expertise in petroleum. We have wells, but we need to learn and work together,” Bahlil said.

He added that Russian oil companies will soon visit Indonesia to evaluate which oil blocks they might manage. Russia will be given several options: to work with Pertamina, develop new wells, or manage idle fields.

“Our technology mainly uses vertical drilling, while they have horizontal drilling capabilities. This strategy helped the U.S. boost production from 3 million to over 10 million barrels per day,” Bahlil cited. “Pertamina has tested this technology in three wells already. Tomorrow, we’ll exchange data and determine the exact well locations for technical discussions.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a statement after a bilateral meeting with President Prabowo at the Konstantinovskiy Palace in Saint Petersburg on June 19, 2025 expressed willingness to expand energy trade, offering crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies to Indonesia.

“We are ready to increase supplies of oil and LNG to the Indonesian market,” Putin said, as broadcast by the Presidential Secretariat’s YouTube channel, on Thursday, June 19, 2025.

Putin also proposed greater Russian involvement in Indonesia’s upstream oil and gas sector, especially in offshore exploration and production projects, and offered to help modernize infrastructure for mature oil fields to enhance output.

“We are prepared to participate in new offshore projects and support modernization efforts to raise output from aging oil fields,” Putin added.