Indonesia Accuses Singapore of Reselling LNG as Officials Urge Calm Over Gas and Haze Tensions

On Oct 29, Bahlil Lahadalia walked out of the Presidential Palace in Jakarta after a meeting with President Prabowo Subianto and told reporters what he believed about Singapore's gas imports. Indonesia has shipped 148 cargoes of liquefied natural gas to the city-state, he said, and not all of them are being used there. Some, in his view, are traded and then exported on to other countries.

Bahlil is Coordinating Minister for Downstreaming and Energy Transition, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, and chairman of the Golkar Party. He offered no evidence for the claim and did not say over what period the 148 cargoes were shipped. His remarks concerned LNG moved by sea, which is separate from the pipeline gas that flows to Singapore from Indonesia's Natuna and Sumatra fields. Trading and re-exporting LNG is not inherently improper, though such deals are bound by the terms of the supply agreements behind them.

The accusation lands in the middle of a dispute over pipeline gas. On Oct 24, Indonesia began cutting its pipeline exports to Singapore, citing domestic energy needs. The upstream regulator SKK Migas announced reductions totalling 31 million standard cubic feet per day, with the gas redirected to power generation in Batam, Bintan and Sumatra. Singapore's Energy Market Authority later put the actual cut, based on information from importers, at 17 billion British thermal units per day over 18 days, less than 2 per cent of Singapore's daily gas demand.

Bahlil said Indonesia has not breached its agreements, because the reduced deliveries remain above the minimum supply limits in existing contracts. He added that Jakarta has no immediate plans to reduce LNG exports to Singapore, though it will keep putting domestic demand first.

Contracts were already a point of friction. On Oct 25, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said Singapore expected parties to honour their commercial commitments. Bahlil replied on Oct 26 that Indonesia had met its obligations and should not be lectured about respecting contracts.

Other Indonesian figures have worked to lower the temperature. Investment Minister Rosan Roeslani said on Oct 29 that Singapore's investment commitments remain intact despite the disagreements over haze and gas. He welcomed Singapore's decision to summon executives from 10 companies over possible links to the haze, calling it a positive step toward tackling forest fires. He said he had met Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan during the latter's Jakarta visit and that both sides reaffirmed their commitment to investment cooperation. Singapore has been Indonesia's largest source of foreign direct investment since 2014, with US$17.4 billion (S$22.3 billion) in 2025.

Shinta Kamdani, deputy chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and chair of the Indonesian Employers Association, said she was confident Prabowo's meeting with Balakrishnan a day earlier would lead to a solution. She had seen no decline in Singaporean interest in the real economy, she said, though tensions could affect financial market sentiment.

On Oct 27, National Economic Council chairman Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan asked why Indonesia would fight with Singapore, saying there was no reason to; he had spoken with Bahlil about the matter. Communications and Digital Affairs Minister Meutya Hafid called for restraint after former Singapore nominated MP Calvin Cheng suggested Singapore could cut Indonesia's internet connectivity. She noted that much of Singapore's submarine cable connectivity passes through Indonesian waters, and said digital infrastructure should be protected jointly.

During Balakrishnan's Oct 27 to 29 visit, the two countries agreed to set up a joint task force on haze to strengthen information-sharing and enforcement cooperation. What to watch now is whether that task force and the leaders' talks hold, and whether gas and investment ties stay steady.