Indonesia imported two cargoes of Russian oil in December and January, ship tracking data showed on Tuesday, rare purchases by the Southeast Asian country and a possible signal of Russian oil sellers seeking new markets in response to international pressure on other buyers.
The imports, tracked by Kpler and Vortexa, came as the prospect of declining demand from India, one of the main buyers of Russian crude, has depressed prices of the western-sanctioned oil, sales of which are vital in helping fund the war in Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump announced on Monday that India had agreed to halt Russian oil purchases as part of a trade deal with the US, though the Kremlin has said it had heard no statements from India about halting purchases of Russian oil.
Indonesia - which usually relies on Middle East and African crude for much of its needs - has not joined with western sanctions against Russia.
"One standard cargo each was taken in December and January," Vortexa analyst Emma Li said, referring to Sakhalin crude.
The last time Kpler data recorded Indonesia's import of Russian crude was in June 2023 when the country imported one million barrels of Urals that headed to the Cilacap Refinery.
Kpler data showed no previous Sakhalin imports by Indonesia.
A tanker called GT Honor, which had conducted a ship-to-ship (STS) transfer with one called Galaxy near Hong Kong, discharged about 700,000 barrels of Sakhalin Blend at Indonesia's Balikpapan port on December 25, the data showed.
Another tanker, Integrity Racer, discharged a similar-sized cargo of Sakhalin crude at Cilacap port in January after conducting an STS transfer with one called Voyager, also near Hong Kong, the data also showed.
A spokesperson at state oil firm Pertamina, which operates refineries at both ports, confirmed that the GT Honor discharged at Balikpapan but denied it carried Sakhalin oil and declined to give the origin of the oil.
The spokesperson did not respond to a question about Integrity Racer, but said the company has not imported any Russian oil.
The origins of oil cargoes from sanctioned producers are often masked via ship-to-ship transfers and redocumentation.
Galaxy and Voyager, both sanctioned by the US and European Union, regularly send crude from the Sakhalin 2 project to waters near Hong Kong, Kpler data showed.
The EU-sanctioned GT Honor has been shipping Russian crude and products since late 2023, the data showed.
The Integrity Racer started shipping Russian crude in September, Kpler data showed.
(Reporting by Siyi Liu in Singapore and Bernadette Christina in Jakarta; Editing by Tony Munroe and David Holmes)
