Could Japan obtain oil without immediate conquest?

How could Japan wait when it urgently needed oil from the Dutch East Indies?

The resource pressure remained, but Japan could explore purchases from the Soviet Union and other sources before invading.

Indonesian oil was important, although invasion was not the only short-term means of obtaining supplies. Japan's non-aggression arrangement with the Soviet Union left room to seek purchases there. Other suppliers or quiet commercial deals might also extend the timetable. None of those options removed the underlying resource constraint, but they could buy time for an attritional strategy before conquest became unavoidable.