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Energy security comes first for Indonesia as it defies EU over Russian oil
Indonesia’s Karimun is the first non-Russian oil terminal to be sanctioned by Brussels since the start of the Ukraine war in 2022
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Jakarta’s move to press on with importing 150 million barrels of Russian oil despite latest EU sanctions against an Indonesian port underscores a growing divide between Western efforts to isolate Moscow and Asia’s push for energy security.
On Thursday, the European Commission announced its 20th package of sanctions against Russia, which includes Indonesia’s Karimun Oil Terminal for its “connections with the shadow fleet and circumvention of the oil price cap”.
The sanction on Karimun, located in a free-trade zone island some 30km (19 miles) southwest of Singapore, is the first time that a non-Russian oil terminal has been sanctioned by Brussels since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
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That same day, Jakarta said it had secured a commitment from Moscow for a shipment of 150 million barrels of Russian crude.
“[President Prabowo Subianto] went to Moscow to meet President [Vladimir] Putin for three hours and received a commitment from President Putin that 100 million barrels of oil would be sent to Indonesia immediately, at a special price,” Hashim Djojohadikusumo, Special Envoy of the President for Energy and Environment, told Antara state news agency.
“If Indonesia needs more, the [oil import] can be increased by 50 million [barrels], so the Russian government has committed to [export] 150 million barrels to Indonesia, which we can store [in case of] economic turmoil,” said Hashim, who is Prabowo’s brother.
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