A Russian firm takes over an oil block in Indonesia's contested waters

Russia's state oil company Zarubezhneft is taking full control of the Tuna Block, an oil and gas field in Indonesia's North Natuna Sea. It moved in this month, after the British company Harbour Energy gave up its 50 percent share to avoid breaking United States sanctions, the penalties Washington placed on Russia over its war in Ukraine. Writing for Indonesia at Melbourne, the author warns that this pulls Indonesia into a contest between big powers in some of its most sensitive waters.

The Tuna Block sits inside Indonesia's exclusive economic zone, the stretch of sea where a country alone has the right to use resources like oil and fish. It lies just 14 kilometres from Vietnam's border, and it also falls inside the "nine-dash line," the sweeping claim China draws over most of the South China Sea. An international court ruled that line illegal in 2016, but China still acts on it. When Indonesia drilled here in 2021, China protested and sent ships near the rig. The gas is meant to go to Vietnam, yet a sea-border deal the two countries agreed in December 2022 has still not been ratified, so the legal ground stays unfinished.

What troubles the author most is the political signal. Letting a sanctioned Russian firm run the block invites closer attention from the United States and its partners. At the same time, President Prabowo Subianto signed a joint statement with China's leader Xi Jinping that mentioned "overlapping claims" in the area. Indonesia has long insisted it has no dispute with China here, so even those two words give Beijing a small opening and weaken Indonesia's own position.

Why it matters

If you follow Indonesia's place in the region, this is a test of whether the country can develop its own resources without being pushed to pick a side. A block run by a sanctioned Russian company, in waters China claims, could draw pressure from Washington and Beijing at once. It is a reminder that energy projects far offshore are now tied to politics that can shape fuel supply and foreign relations for years.