Indonesia’s volume of crude oil imports from Iran can increase, said Octavino Alimudin, the Indonesian ambassador to Tehran, in a meeting with the chairman of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture Gholamreza Shafei in Tehran.

"Indonesia purchased $88 million worth of petroleum products from Iran in 2016 and plans to raise the figure to $220 million," Alimudin said, noting that Jakarta is willing to further expand its oil trade with Tehran, Shana reported.

"Iran and Indonesia intend to augment bilateral trade to $2 billion in 2017," he said, adding that an Indonesian delegation is to visit Tehran in the coming weeks to discuss prospects for collaboration in economic and energy projects. The two sides signed a memorandum of understanding last year to collaborate in oil, gas and petrochemical projects, as well as expansion of energy ties. The agreement calls for exchange of expertise, in addition to oil and gas technology transfer, to give a boost to both countries’ oil and gas production and export.

Indonesia’s oil output stands at around 800,000 barrels per day but to meet domestic energy demand, the Southeast Asian economy imports nearly as many barrels as it produces. Based on projections, Indonesia’s oil production will see a downward trend in the next five years.