Business,Trade, Oil, Gas, Mining updates from Jakarta

- Bank Danamon: Raised IDR3.98 Trillion In Rights Issue
- BTN Secures Indonesian Parliamentary Approval To Launch IPO
- Bank Internasional Indonesia Projects 20% Increase In 3rd Party Funds In 2009
- Four Investors Interested In Indonesia's Bank Muamalat Shares
- Index to soar above 1,700 this year: Mandiri
- Humpuss Intermoda To Sell Up To 20% Stake To Public In 2H
- Indonesia Invest Board Seeks 15-Yr Tax Holiday For Investors
- Indonesia's Bakrie Group Says Will Repay All Debts This Year
- Indonesia's BEI Suspends Trading In OKAs Shares
- TABLE-Details of Indonesia's planned SBI, sharia debt auction
- Era Indoasia To Buy Four Offshore Ships From China
- Indonesia's Trada Maritime To Buy Six New Tankers
- Indonesia's Lion Air Now Flies Boeing 737-300 To Ternate
- Cement Price Hike Quite Reasonable: Indonesian Cement Makers
- Indonesia Hopes To Boost Shoe Exports To Europe
- Indonesian CPO Producers Say EU Directive Discriminatory
- Minister Cautions Indonesian Construction Firms In Middle East
- - Aneka Tambang Cuts First-Quarter Ferronickel Production 15%
- Indonesia's Aneka Tambang Optimistic Of Reaching Targets
- Indonesia Won't Impose Tin Export Quota In 2009 - Official
- Japan's Tepco seeks to switch Oil power plant feedstock from
Minas
- Indonesia's PLN Sets Thermal-Powered Electricity Rates
- Indonesia's Pertamina To Build 6 Bulk Gas Filling Stations In
Riau
- Indonesian Coal Miner PTBA Sees Two Fold Jump In Q1 Net Profit
(courtesy Joyo News Service)

Bank Danamon: Raised IDR3.98 Trillion In Rights Issue
JAKARTA (Dow Jones)--Bank Danamon Indonesia (BDMN.JK),
Indonesia's fifth-largest bank by assets, Tuesday said it raised
IDR3.98 trillion in Indonesia's largest banking and financial
services rights issue.
"The capital inflow resulting from the rights issue is
approximately US$372 million, which reflects foreign investors'
confidence in Danamon and the country. As reflected in the 2008
full-year results, Danamon continues to have a strong capital
level, fairly liquid position and sound loan quality," Danamon
President Director Sebastien Paredes said in a written statement.
Danamon said it sold about 3.31 billion new shares at IDR1,200
each.
Danamon said its unaudited Tier One capital ratio would increase
to 21.16% and its consolidated capital adequacy ratio to 22.7%
as of March 31 as a result of the fundraising.
It said 99.9% of the rights shares were subscribed and total
demand was over 110% of the offer size.
Tracey Woon, Singapore-based head of global banking at
Citigroup, said in the statement that Danamon's rights issue was
the largest banking and financial services rights issue ever
conducted in Indonesia.
Citigroup Global Markets Singapore Pte. Ltd. and Morgan Stanley
Asia (Singapore) Pte. were standby purchasers for the issue.
Danamon, which is majority-owned by Singapore's Temasek Holdings
Pte. Ltd., held the rights offer from April 7 to April 14.
--------------------------
BTN Secures Indonesian Parliamentary Approval To Launch IPO
JAKARTA, April 21 Asia Pulse - Indonesia's PT Bank Tabungan
Negara (BTN) finally secured an approval from the Commission VI
of House of Representatives to launch initial public offering
(IPO).
The state lender hopes to raise at least Rp2 trillion (US$180
million) from the IPO, delayed since 2007, to be held before the
end of this year , BTN President Iqbal Lantaro said.
BTN also hopes to raise more funds this year by planning to
issue bond valued at Rp1.5 trillion and securitization of assets
valued at Rp500 billion.
The bank already named underwriters including Mandiri Sekuritas,
Danareksa and Trimegah Securities to help process the bonds this
week.
The bank said the funds will be used to finance its business
expansion to strengthen its credit financing capacity, the
newspaper Investor Daily said.
----------------------------
Bank Internasional Indonesia Projects 20% Increase In 3rd Party
Funds In 2009
JAKARTA, April 21 Asia pulse - PT Bank Internasional Indonesia
(JSX:BNII) (BII) estimates that third party funds it will
collect in 2009 will increase 20 per cent to Rp55 trillion from
Rp44 trillion a year earlier.
"We are optimistic that we can collect Rp55 trillion in third
party funds in 2009 after seeing positive public response to a
number of new products we have launched," Chief National Sales
Officer of PT BII Hevi Angweita said here on Monday.
Angweita sad that the bank was hoping to collect Rp500 billion
from its Women One and Super Kidz saving schemes
The Women One saving scheme is expected to net 30,000 clients
with an average saving fund of about Rp20 million to Rp30
million each while the Super Kidz has the target to win about
45,000 depositors with an average saving of about Rp1 million
each, she said.
Angweita said that BII in the first four months has the target
to collect Rp300 billion from the saving scheme, and if this was
realized the amount of funds that would be collected from the
two types of saving schemes would exceed Rp500 billion.
"We look this as a big opportunity because bank customers are
now serious in looking for new saving schemes to save their
money," she said.
with regard to the constraint faced in the current global
financial crisis, Angweita said that it relatively had no
serious impact on Indonesia. The country's economic growth which
was previously predicted at 3 per cent could reach 4.5 per cent.
Looking at the market development conditions, BII was optimistic
that it would be able to collect public funds from various
products it had launched.
On the meantime, BII Wealth Management and Funding Business
officer Stefanus Willy Sukianto said that BII's Women One saving
scheme provided a solution to the various needs of Indonesian
women such as annual administration cost, female care insurance
protection, smart saving with high interest and smart spending.
-----------------------------
Four Investors Interested In Indonesia's Bank Muamalat Shares
JAKARTA, April 20 Asia pulse - Four investors -- three of them
foreign -- are interested in buying shares in Indonesia's Bank
Mualamat, the bank's, president director, A Ridwan Amin, said
here Monday.
"Three of them are foreign and one a local investor," said
Ridwan after the dedication of the bank's Kuala Lumpur branch
office and 33 service offices in Jakarta.
According to him, many investors were actually eager to buy
shares in the Syariah (Islamic law) based bank. Some offers had
been received not only from foreign but also from local
investors.
However, the issue of selling some of the bank's shares to
interested parties would be left to the shareholders to decide
in the sense whether they were ready to share the bank's
ownership with other parties, he said.
At present, the capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of Bank Muamalat
was still above eight per cent. In fact, according to Ridwan,
the bank's CAR has reached the level of nine per cent.
"Over eight per cent and perhaps nine per cent.. yes," he said,
adding that his bank did not need capital because its business
activity was profitable. However, the regulation on CAR issued
by the Bank Indonesia should also be met by his side.
Ridwan himself said he has yet to mention the exact amount of
funds from the four investors. But he only said that at least 50
per cent of Bank Muamalat's capital which had reached Rp500
billion.
"I don't know the details," said Ridwan when asked on the shares
to be bought by prospective investors.
Three Bank Muamalat's shareholders are among other the Islamic
Development Bank (IDB) with 28 per cent in the ownership of the
bank, Boudyan Bank Kuwait with 21.28 shares and Atwill holdings
Limited 15.3 per cent.
------------------------------
The Jakarta Post [website]
April 21, 2009
Index to soar above 1,700 this year: Mandiri
Aditya Suharmoko, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Jakarta Composite Index may soar above 1,700 by the year's
end led by banking stocks, if the rate of bad loans is better
than market expectation, Mandiri Sekuritas says.
"Now the index is about 1,650. It can pass 1,700, led by banking
stocks, which may happen if the rate of non-performing loans
(NPLs) decreases," Ari Pitoyo, the head of equity research, said
in a press conference Tuesday.
As of April 17, the index has so far regained 20.6 percent, led
by mining and agricultural stocks. Finance stocks rose 15.2
percent.
"Stocks that are considered sensitive (to the global financial
crisis) have increased," he said.
-------------------------------
Humpuss Intermoda To Sell Up To 20% Stake To Public In 2H
JAKARTA (Dow Jones)--Shipper PT Humpuss Intermoda Transportasi
(HITS.JK) plans to increase its free float on the Indonesia
Stock Exchange by selling a stake of up to 20% to the public.
"We plan to sell our 6.63% of treasury stocks in the second half
of this year," Humpuss Chief Executive Antonius Widyatma
Sumarlin told reporters Tuesday.
He said the remaining 13% will come from Humpuss Intermoda
shareholders. "Our shareholders are still discussing the plan,"
he added.
Humpuss Intermoda is 60.83%-owned by PT Humpuss, controlled by
former President Suharto's family, 9.43% by Humpuss Inc., 5.57%
by Lincoln Circle Ltd., 5.16% by Astonville International Ltd,
5.17% by PT Investa Dharma Putera and 7.20% by the public.
After the stake sale, the free float will increase to 27.2%.
---------------------------
Indonesia Invest Board Seeks 15-Yr Tax Holiday For Investors
JAKARTA, April 21 (Dow Jones)--Indonesia's investment
coordinating board has asked the government for a 15-year waiver
of income taxes for new investors in certain industries, its
chief Muhammad Lutfi said Tuesday.
The Investment Board chairman told reporters that his office has
proposed the tax holiday for a range of industries including
downstream oil and gas, energy, rubber, and agriculture.
"If we can give such a tax incentive, we can compete with other
countries (in attracting investors)," Lutfi said.
He said in February that he expected the growth of actual
foreign direct investment in Indonesia to slow to 20% this year
from 44% last year amid the global downturn.
Actual FDI was $14.87 billion in 2008.
-----------------------------
Indonesia's Bakrie Group Says It Will Repay All Debts This Year
JAKARTA, April 21 Asia Pulse - PT Bakrie & Brothers (JSX:BNBR)
said it will settle its remaining debts of Rp4.2 trillion
(US$390.6 million) which are already restructured by the end of
this year.
The debts, which have been reduced from Rp16.06 trillion
originally, will be repaid with internal fund and new loans, a
company director Dileep Srivastava said.
Srivastava said the Bakrie Group has never asked for the debt to
be reduced but only wants a roll over of the debts that include
debts under repurchase agreements.
Based on data at Bakrie & Brothers, the group had repurchase
agreement debts totaling Rp443.7 billion by January, 2009, the
newspaper Investor Daily said.
------------------------------
Indonesia's BEI Suspends Trading In OKAs Shares
Jakarta, April 21 Asia pulse - The Indonesian Stock Exchange
(BEI) has suspended trading in PT Ancora Indonesia Resources Tbk
(OKAS) shares in the regular and cash markets as of April 21,
2009, until further notice.
The suspension was conducted following a significant increase in
the company's stock price cumulatively, which went up Rp400 or
210.53 percent on April 20, 2009, according to BEI's Share
Trading Devision Chief Abdul Mun'im.
He appealed concerned parties to always follow information
openness presented by the company.
-----------------------------
TABLE-Details of Indonesia's planned SBI, sharia debt auction
JAKARTA, April 21 (Reuters) - Indonesia's central bank plans to
raise 30.3 trillion rupiah ($2.8 billion) in an auction of
1-month, 3-month and 6-month debt paper (SBI), as well as
1-month sharia SBI, on Wednesday.
The yield for 1-month sharia SBI refers to the weighted average
interest rate of 1-month SBI.
Following are details of the auction:
For SBI Maturities : 1-month (29 days) 3-month (91 days)
6-month (182 days) Maturing date : 1-month (May 22) 3-month
(July 23) 6-month (Oct 22) Window time : 1200-1400 (0500-0700
GMT) Settlement date : April 23 For Sharia SBI Maturities :
1-month (28 days) Maturing date : May 20 Window time :
1000-1200 (0300-0500 GMT) Settlement date : April 22
(Reporting by Sonya Angraini; Editing by Sara Webb)
------------------------------
Era Indoasia To Buy Four Offshore Ships From China
JAKARTA, April 21 Asia Pulse - Shipping company PT Era Indoasia
Fortune has ordered four offshore vessels valued at US$48
million from a Chinese shipbuilding company.
Era President Paulis D. Djohan said the delivery of the ships
will take place between June and November this year.
The off shore vessels being built by Yuexin Shipyard will
strengthen support for offshore oil and gas industry , Paulis
told the news paper Bisnis Indonesia.
He said the procurement of the vessels is financed by PT PANN
Multifinance.
-----------------------------
Indonesia's Trada Maritime To Buy Six New Tankers
JAKARTA, April 21 Asia Pulse - Inodnesian publicly traded cargo
shipping company PT Trada Maritime (JSX:TRAM) plans to buy six
units of tankers worth Rp400 billion (US$36.3 million) this year.
The company which operates in liquid cargo and dry bulk
transport will expand to business to transport of clean
petroleum product and coal, its finance director Danny De Mita
said.
Last year, the company was the largest provider of floating
storage and offloading (FSO) service in the country with a
market share of more than 25 per cent.
Its customers include PT Medco E&P Indonesia, Pertamina and
Camar Resources Canada Inc, the newspaper Investor Daily said.
-----------------------------
Indonesia's Lion Air Now Flies Boeing 737-300 To Ternate
TERNATE, April 21 Asia pulse - Indonesia's Lion Air starting
today, April 21, flies a Boeing 737-300 to Ternate, North
Maluku, to promote air transport service to the local population.
"The Boeing 737-300 is serving the Ternate-Manado route every
day," Mohdar Assagaf of PT Almas Mega Travel (which takes care
of Lion Air ticket sales in North Maluku) said in Ternate
Tuesday.
With enough room for 149 passengers, the plane left Manado's Sam
Ratulangi airport at 10 a.m local time, and from Ternate's
Babullah Airport at noon local time.
He said with the operation of the Boeing 737-300, the Dash 8-300
planes of Wings Air (Lion Air group) which had been flying Lion
air passengers from Ternate to Manado and vice versa, stopped
flying.
While Lion Air is now flying Boeing 737-300 aircraft over the
Ternate-Manado route, it did not change its previous airfares
ranging from Rp500,000 to slightly more.
In the meantime, a number of Ternate citizens who often flew by
Lion Air, warmly hailed the operation of Boeing 737-300s, as it
means more flying comfort.
"Lion Air had been flying Dash 8-300 planes over the route.
Sorry to say, but Dash planes are propeller planes, and very
small, Ade, Ternate citizen, said.
Other airline companies like Express Air, Merpati and Batavia
Air, which are also flying to and from Ternate, had already long
been flying Boeings for pioneer flights in North Maluku, while
Merpati is still using small planes.
The national airline companies had started considering North
Maluku as a potential area for air transportation. Garuda and
Sriwijaya Air are also planning to start flying to and from
Ternate.
--------------------------
Cement Price Hike Quite Reasonable: Indonesian Cement Makers
SURABAYA, April 21 Asia pulse - Indonesian cement producers felt
that the cement price hike was quite reasonable as it was based
on many acceptable reasons.
"One of the reasons is the energy component, which is very
decisive to setting cement prices," communications chief of
state cement company PT Semen Gresik Tbk (JSX:SMGR) Saifuddin
Zuhri said here Tuesday.
He said Semen Gresik is now using coal energy. Since the price
of coal had been raised recently, this should not be ignored by
the Business Competition Supervisory Commission in setting
cement production cost.
Earlier, he said, on April 7, 2009, KPPU communications director
A Djunaidi said that there has been allegations that the price
of Semen Gresik cement was 30-40 per cent higher than those of
other producers, whereas the KPPU had collected its information
based on data on 2007 international cement prices, while the
price of Indonesian cement reached US$83.8 per ton.
He also said that the cement prices in Malaysia stood at US$62.6
per ton, in the Philippines US$84.5 per ton, in Vietnam US$57.75
and in Thailand US$67.87 per ton.
This he said meets the definition of a cartel. He added that
fuel oil is used merely for cement distribution, not to mention
the loss due a difference in exchange rates.
"It is crystal clear we have been buying coal with the US
dollar, in addition to the constantly increasing wages in
certain periods. As we wish out employees to be leading a good
life, we raised their wages on the basis of the inflation
index," he said.
"Corporate Communications Manager of PT Holcim Indonesia Tbk,
Budi Primawan said the price of the commodity has been set on
standard procedures, namely taking into account energy cost of
transportation and production.
"We have our responsibilities to the stakeholders and employees
in making higher profits each year, while the percentage of
profit is also set reasonably," he said.
The highest price hike, he said, was among things caused by an
increase in the price of energy resources, which contributed
45-50 per cent of production cost.
"In addition there is also the loss in exchange rate differences
because our purchases are in the greenback," he said.
----------------------------
Indonesia Hopes To Boost Shoe Exports To Europe
JAKARTA, April 21 Asia Pulse - Indonesia hopes to boost shoe
exports by 10 per cent to Europe this year with the plan of the
European Commission to cut import duty from 17 per cent to 13.5
per cent on Indonesian shoe products.
Last year, Indonesia had only a 3 per cent share of shoe market
in the European Union or below the quota of 7 per cent, an
official of the industry ministry said.
Despite the falling demand as a result of the global financial
crisis, Indonesia's shoe exports to the EU could still increase,
Multifarious Industry Director Budi Irmawan said.
The Indonesian footwear association said the country's exports
of shoes were valued at US$1.87 billion last year and exports to
the EU accounted for or US$692 million, the newspaper Bisnis
Indonesia said.
-----------------------------
Indonesian CPO Producers Say EU Directive Discriminatory
JAKARTA, April 21 Asia Pulse - Indonesian producers of crude
palm oil (CPO) have complained about alleged discrimination by
the European Union (EU) against CPO-based Indonesian biofuel
products.
Under the EU directive, biodiesel will account for 5.75 per cent
of fuel requirement in Europe in 2010 and for 10 per cent in
2020.
The EU Directive, however, calls for ban on the use of CPO
-based biofuel in the 27 member countries of the EU as CPO
production has contributed to destruction of natural forests.
Indonesia has been accused of destroying natural forests by
converting large forests into oil palm plantations, the
newspaper Bisnis Indonesia said. .
The Indonesian association of palm oil companies , however, said
the EU was trying only to find an excuse to protect their
domestic industry.
-----------------------------
Minister Cautions Indonesian Construction Firms In Middle East
JAKARTA, April 21 Asia pulse - Indonesia's State Enterprises
Minister Sofyan Djalil has cautioned state-owned construction
companies operating in the Middle East to be more careful as the
world financial crisis is starting to affect property business
in that region.
"The property industry in the Middle East region is facing
problems and therefore constrcution companies must be careful
when carrying out projects there," Djalil said at his office
here on Monday.
He said his office had summoned among others PT Adhi Karya
executives to ask for a report on the development of its
projects in the region.
Adhi Karya is now carrying out hotel and shopping mall
development projects worth Rp969 billion (US$90.1 illion) in
Oman, which are expected to finish in May 2009.
Previously, Adhi Karya developed Hotel Shangri-La in Qatar.
Another state-owned company carrying out projects in the Middle
East is PT Wijaya Karya.
The company is currently constructing a tunnel in Palem Jabrali
in Dubai. It has also been entrusted with an East-West toll road
development project strecthing up to 1,400 kilometer long in
Algiers. The company constructed 18 bridges in the country
before.
Sofyan Djalil said based on the reports from the state-owned
construction companies anticipatory measures could be taken with
regard to indications of collapsing in property business in the
region.
The minister said however that so far there had not been any
cancellation of projects.
------------------------------------------
Aneka Tambang Cuts First-Quarter Ferronickel Production 15%
By Bambang Dwi Djanuarto and Naila Firdausi
April 21 (Bloomberg) -- PT Aneka Tambang, Indonesia’s
second-largest publicly traded metal producer, said its first-
quarter ferronickel output dropped 15 percent from a year ago
because of slowing demand.
The company, known as Antam, produced about 3,700 metric tons of
ferronickel, 700 kilograms of gold and 200,000 tons of bauxite,
President Director Alwin Syah Loebis told reporters last night
in Jakarta. In the first quarter of 2008, the company produced
4,362 tons of ferronickel, 935 kilograms of gold and 181,141 wet
metric tons of bauxite.
“Our production performance in the first quarter for ferronickel
and gold hit the target,” Loebis said. Bauxite output, which was
only a fifth of the 1 million-ton full-year target, “was lower
than target because of slowing demand.”
Antam earlier this year said it expects to cut annual
ferronickel output to 12,000 tons from 17,566 tons, and its
bauxite output to 1 million tons from 1.15 million tons.
Nickel futures declined 56 percent on the London Metal Exchange
last year, a record annual drop, on concern that the global
economic slowdown would cause demand for the metal used in
steelmaking to slump.
------------------------
Indonesia's Aneka Tambang Optimistic Of Reaching Targets
JAKARTA, April 21 Asia Pulse - Indonesian state mining company
PT Aneka Tambang said it was optimistic to reach its production
targets for ferronickel and gold in the first quarter of this
year.
The publicly traded company targeted to produce 3,000 tons of
ferronickel; and 0.7 ton of gold in the first three months of
this year.
Company President Alwin Syah Loebis said the production target
for the whole of the year is set at 12,000 tons for ferronickel
and 2.8 tons for gold.
The ferronickel production target is set much lower than
production of 17,000 tons last year with the price fall of that
commodity.
The company is yet to set production target for bauxite as
demand for which declined in the first quarter of this year ,
the newspaper Bisnis Indonesia said.
---------------------------
Indonesia Won't Impose Tin Export Quota In 2009 - Official
JAKARTA (Dow Jones)--Indonesia won't impose a quota restriction
on tin exports that was scheduled to start this year, in light
of falling demand for the metal, a senior government official
said Tuesday.
The quota regulation was deemed unnecessary this year, as
globaltin prices have fallen sharply and exports have dropped
from the time the regulation was first mooted, said Bambang
Setiawan, a director general at the Energy and Mineral Resources
Ministry.
However, the policy to impose a restriction on the volume of tin
exported from Indonesia will be resurrected when tin prices are
high, as a means of preventing markets from being flooded with
the commodity, he said.
Indonesia fears market participants will rush to export tin when
prices are high, resulting in further environmental damage to
the islands of Bangka-Belitung, where Indonesian tin is mostly
mined.
Setiawan said imposing a quota when prices are high would also
help prevent prices from falling too much as a result of an
oversupply of tin in themarket.
The quota would limit exports to at most 100,000 metric tons a
year. Last year, Indonesia produced 71,610 tons of tin and
exported more than 80% of its output.
Tin prices have fallen sharply from a record high of $25,500/ton
last May. Tin on the London Metal Exchange was last offered
Monday at $12,045-$12,050/ton.
The falling tin prices have made tin mining unprofitable for
many small-scale miners, with several Indonesian smelters
halting production.
-------------------------
Platts Commodity News April 20, 2009
Japan's Tepco seeks to switch Oi power plant feedstock from Minas
Tokyo -- Japan's largest power utility, Tokyo Electricity Power
Company, is in talks with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to
switch the fuel it burns at its Oi thermal power plant from
Indonesia's Minas crude to other crude oils, a source from the
company said late last week.
Under the current agreement with the Tokyo government, Tepco is
allowed to use only Minas crude, which contains less than 0.1%
sulfur, at the Oi plant in order to protect air quality.
However, the production of Minas crude is declining, and Tepco
wants approval to seek other feedstocks.
"We are now negotiating to change the fuel to other crude oils
such as Su Tu Den in Vietnam or Western African crude oils to
diversify the sources," the source said.
Oi thermal power plant has three units, with a capacity of 350
MW each.
Atsuko Kawasaki, atsuko_kawas...@platts.com
-------------------------
Indonesia's PLN Sets Thermal-Powered Electricity Rates
JAKARTA, April 21 Asia Pulse - State-owned power utility PLN
said the tariff for a thermal power plant (PLTP) it would buy
from electricity producers would be set at a range from 6.5 to
8.5 US cents per Kwh.
PLN director for planning and technology affairs Bambang
Praptono said here on Tuesday that the electricity tariff as
mentioned above was better than the previous one which was set
at 4.5 US cents per kWh.
"With a better tariff rate it was expected that many investors
would become interested in building thermal power plants," he
said adding that the tariff would be set based on the plants'
capacity.
Plants with small capacity could have their rates set at 8.5
dollar cents per kWh, those of the middle capacity at 7.5 US
cents and the large ones at 6.5 US cents per kWh, he added.
"So, the rate now is better than the previous one which was set
at 4.5 US cents per kWh," Praptono said.
The government through a ministerial decree No.5 / 2009 has left
the rates of power tariff of all kinds of generating plants to
PLN to decide, including the tariff rates of electricity it
would purchase from cooperatives or other businesses.
The decree revised a previous ruling which decided that the
tariff rate of a PLTP would be decided by the government and was
limited to 4.5 US cents per kWh.
Praptono said that PLN in the near future would also sign a head
of agreement (HoA) with state-owned oil and gas company (PLN) to
build PLTPs which were part of the accelerated second phase of
the government's 10,000 MW power projects.
The HoA will include provisions where Pertamina will build power
plants in upstream areas and PLN in downstream ones, or else
Pertamina will do it all in upstream and downstream areas.
-----------------------------
Indonesia's Pertamina To Build 6 Bulk Gas Filling Stations In
Riau
PEKANBARU, April 21 Asia Pulse - Indonesia's state oil and gas
company Pertamina plans to build six more bulk lequified
petroleum gas filling stations (SPBEs) in Riau province to
support a kerosene-to-gas conversion program in the region.
The province now had three SPBEs, namely in Pekanbaru, Pasir
Putih and Kulin, Pertamina Corporate Communications Vice
President Anang Noor said on Monday.
"The three SPBEs supply around 70 tons of LPG to customers per
day. The gas comes from the RU II Dumai refinery," he said.
The province will launch a kerosene-to-gas conversion program in
September 2009. Under the program, stoves, hoses and cylinders
will be distributed among 514,000 households free of charge.
Anang said once the program was launched in the province, the
LPG supplies would be raised from other refineries in
Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, Cilacap, Central Java, and
Balongan, West Java.
The Dumai refinery was only able to produce 120 tons of LPG per
day, he said.
Earlier, Pertamina Corporate Secretary Toharso said the
kerosene-to-gas conversion program launched in Java in 2008 had
reached 15 million households, enabling the country to save
Rp5.3 trillion in fuel subsidies.
He said the program would target around 23 million households
this year.
"This year the kerosene-to-gas conversion programs in Java and
Bali will be completed. The programs will be continued in other
areas. Hopefully, the programs will affect all areas in Sumatra,
Sulawesi and Kalimantan by the end of 2010," he said.
------------------------------
Indonesian Coal Miner PTBA Sees Two Fold Jump In Q1 Net Profit
JAKARTA, April 21 Asia Pulse - The net profit of PT Tambang
Batubara Bukit Asam (JSX:PTBA) in the first quarter of this year
was estimated to surge more than 100 per cent from Rp286.3
billion (US$26.62 million) in the same period last year.
Sales by the state coal mining company were also estimated to
double from Rp1.23 trillion , company secretary Eko
Budhiwijayanto told the newspaper Investor Daily.
Eko attributed the improvement in financial performance to
increase in sales and price of coal.
He said demand for coal is still strong in both domestic and
international market and the coal price may still increase this
year.
This year the company plans to produce 10.5 million tons of coal
from its mines in South Sumatra, the newspaper Investor Daily
said.
------------------------------------------