JAKARTA (Reuters): Indonesia will import 150 million barrels of crude oil from Russia this year, Deputy Energy Minister Yuliot Tanjung has announced.
The Southeast Asian country secured supplies of crude oil and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from Russia amid energy shortages following the Middle East war.
The minister's announcement came after President Prabowo Subianto met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow last week.
"It has been agreed that the total volume of crude oil which we will import from Russia is around 150 million barrels to meet our needs until the end of the year," Yuliot told reporters, adding that the government only needed to work out the import mechanism.
Yuliot said the import volume of LPG from Russia has yet to be decided.
Indonesia is also seeking to secure crude oil and LPG from other countries, including the United States, Yuliot said.
"We import about 1 million barrels per day, so we can see with this 150 million (barrels) it is still short. We are looking for additional supply from other countries, including the U.S.," he said.
Indonesia has secured a deal to purchase oil and gas from the U.S. under the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade.
"We hope that we can meet our crude oil and domestic LPG needs from various sources," Yuliot said.
(Reporting by Bernadette Christina; Writing by Ananda Teresia; Editing by David Stanway and Tom Hogue) -- Reuters
