Jakarta. The European Union said on Thursday that it would remain unbothered if Indonesia decided to import cheap Russian oil.

Indonesia is mulling buying Russian oil which has been subject to massive European sanctions after the Russo-Ukraine war escalated in 2022. These widespread sanctions have pushed Russian oil prices below the global benchmarks.

Energy Minister Bahlil Lahadalia recently said that Indonesia’s entry to the Russia-led BRICS alliance had opened up the possibility of Jakarta importing this heavily sanctioned oil.

However, Indonesia’s interest in Russian oil has sparked worries that the oil deal could take a toll on the Southeast Asian nation’s ties with Western allies. An EU diplomat, however, revealed the European bloc did not mind where Indonesia bought its oil even if it comes from Russia.

“When it comes to Russian oil, all the countries in the world, including Indonesia, are sovereign states,” EU’s deputy head of mission to Indonesia Stéphane Mechati told reporters in Jakarta on Thursday. 

“So they can decide how they will deal with their energy supply. I have no particular comment in that respect, but we will maintain these sanctions [against Russia] more than ever,” Mechati said. 

While the EU chooses to not worry over the Russian oil purchases, the 27-member grouping plans on convincing its foreign partners, including Indonesia, that its sanctions are “fully legitimate”.

“[These sanctions] respond to the fact that Russia has breached all of its obligations in the virtue of the UN Charter,” Mechati said. 

Earlier this week, Russian Ambassador to Indonesia Sergei Tolchenov said that his country was open to the oil purchase negotiations. Moscow is already aware of Indonesia’s interest, although the government had yet to make any official requests at the time.

Tolchenov told the Jakarta Globe that oil purchase negotiations typically took place in business-to-business settings. The diplomat revealed that Russia had engaged in some talks with Indonesia to use local currencies rupiah and ruble for their bilateral trade as Moscow remained isolated in the international financial system.

In 2022, the G7, the EU, and Australia set a $60 per barrel price cap on Russian oil shipments that used services from their countries. Six EU economies, including Sweden and Denmark, not long ago urged for the price cap to be lower than $60 to reduce Moscow’s revenues that it could use to fund the war versus Ukraine.

The sanctions have forced Russia to sell its crude oil at a discount of $3 to $4 per barrel below global benchmarks. 

Indonesia can only produce 700,000 and 800,000 barrels a day, only half of the national demand. Indonesia mainly imported oil from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members, including Nigeria and Saudi Arabia. The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) showed that Indonesia’s oil and gas imports totaled about $36.3 billion in 2024.

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