THE
COORDINATING MINISTRY FOR ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
Tel: (021) 351-1178 Fax: (021)
351-1186 Website: http://www.ekon.go.id
Trade and
Investment News[1], 13 July 2009
Highlights
National
·
The
El Nino weather effect is beginning to bite in
Politics
·
Strong
vote for President Yudhoyono in former conflict areas
Security
·
President
says next year’s defense budget will rise 20%
Law & order
·
Government
demands proposed ASEAN human rights body have teeth
Health
·
Swine
flu cases hit 55
Economy
·
World
Bank chief says Indonesian economy placed in “exciting position”
Business briefs
Macroeconomy
·
Foreign
investors increase holdings in government bonds
Investment
·
Finance
minister says 7% investment growth will push economy forward
State concerns
·
Despite
global crisis, coffee exports up 19%
SOEs
·
PT
Telkom expects better profit on stable currency, calmer competitive position
Private sector
·
Toll
road operator wins $240 million in loans for expansion
Banks
·
Bank
loans up by 19% compared to same period last year
Power
·
PT
PLN opens tender for 3.26 million tons of coal for outer island power plants
Oil & gas
·
Tangguh
project delivers first load of LNG to
Mining
·
PT
Aneka Tambang takes on $40 million gold mine project in Banten province
NATIONAL
Forecasters say El Nino has returned
Scientists said Thursday that the periodic warming of water
in the tropical Pacific Ocean, which can affect weather around the world,
including
The Pacific had been in what is called a neutral state, but
forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) say
the sea surface temperature climbed to 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit above normal
along a narrow band in the eastern equatorial Pacific in June.
In addition, NOAA's
In general, El Nino conditions are associated with increased
rainfall across the east-central and eastern Pacific and with drier than normal
conditions over northern
In an El Nino year there tend to be more Eastern Pacific
hurricanes and fewer Atlantic hurricanes.
The forecasters said they expect this El Nino to continue
strengthening over the next few months and to last through the winter of
2009-2010.
"Advanced climate science allows us to alert
industries, governments and emergency managers about the weather conditions El
Nino may bring so these can be factored into decision-making and ultimately
protect life, property and the economy," NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco
said in a statement.
POLITICS
SBY and Kalla in peace talks
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his deputy, Vice
President Jusuf Kalla, have moved to heal a rift that developed on the election
campaign trail, acknowledging they still have more than three months' work
ahead of them, The Australian reported.
The government will be replaced on October 20, with Dr. Yudhoyono
reinstalled as the republic's sixth president, after he trounced Kalla in last
week's poll.
Dr. Yudhoyono has signaled he expects his cabinet to pull
together, after most of its members spent several months campaigning for the
three presidential tickets.
Publicly taking a phone call from his deputy, Dr. Yudhoyono
urged Kalla to continue working "for the good of the nation",
describing the conversation as a return to "how we used to talk".
Although the campaign was often muted, Kalla was the
strongest and most dynamic in his criticism of the president's leadership.
Dr. Yudhoyono said after taking Kalla's call that "even
though the competition was fierce, we can create communication and friendship.
The two of us are setting an example that relationships can endure."
SBY excels in conflict-torn regions
Incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono won the
majority of votes in several previously conflict-torn provinces that were
expected to go to Jusuf Kalla because of his role in peace negotiations, The Jakarta Post reported.
According to the results of the
Based on preliminary results from the Aceh chapter of the
Independent Elections Commission (KIP), Yudhoyono secured 92.32% of the nearly
645,000 votes tabulated by a number of regencies and municipalities in Aceh.
Dr. Yudhoyono's domination in Aceh indicates that many
Acehnese people remain drawn to him despite the fact that some believe Kalla
was the initiator of the regions' peace talks.
In Maluku and
Although Kalla's success in
Based on preliminary vote counting conducted by the South
Sulawesi General Elections Commission and quick counts by the LSI and Adhiyaksa
Supporting House, Kalla garnered between 64% and 66% of votes.
SECURITY
Second death at Freeport mine in Papua
Another man was reported to have died after being shot by a
sniper at the
According to Kompas.com, in a report confirmed by other
sources, Markus Rante Alo died of his wounds only two hours after he and two
other security guards for PT Freeport
The site of the shooting was close to Saturday’s killing of
Australian Drew Grant, 29, who was shot through the neck while traveling in a
vehicle with four other
While the incident on Saturday occurred at around 5.30 AM,
Sunday’s shooting took place at 10AM local time. The three security guards were
taking supplies from Timika to Tembagapura for security personnel hunting
Grant’s killer. Kompas.com said Alo was shot in the back, while the other two
suffered wounds to the leg.
In the Saturday incident, Grant was the only person hit by
what appears to have been a single shot at the vehicle he was in.
The killings are the most dramatic incident at the Grasberg mine,
one of the largest open-pit mines in the world, since two Americans and an
Indonesian were killed in an ambush in 2002. The second incident came despite
heightened security in the area.
President to raise defense budget by 20%
The government is planning to increase its defense budget by
20% next year to Rp40.6 trillion ($4 billion), part of which will be used to
replace the country’s aging weaponry, The
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said in Bandung on Friday
that the government would propose to the House of Representatives an increase
of Rp7 trillion (approximately $700 million) in the country's defense budget
for the 2010 fiscal year from the current Rp33.6 trillion.
"We will incorporate it (the defense budget increase)
in our draft for the 2010 state budget. We'll be finalizing the plan within the
next two weeks," Yudhoyono said.
"We will then systematically head toward what we call
the minimum essential force, which is equal to between Rp100 trillion and Rp120
trillion."
The increasing defense budget, Dr. Yudhoyono said, will be
made in accordance with the country’s economic growth.
"This year we predict that our economy will expand by
between 4% and 4.5% and with our state budget having exceeded Rp1,000 trillion,
we can raise our defense budget so that there will not be such a wide gap
between the allocated budget and the minimum essential force," he said.
Dr. Yudhoyono said the government had been unable to
allocate a proper amount to the defense budget because it had been struggling
to revive the country's economy and people's prosperity since the 1998 Asian
crisis.
Yudhoyono made the comment at the handover of 40 armored
personal carriers (APCs) to the Army by state weapons manufacturer PT Pindad,
the second installment of 150 medium APCs ordered by the government in 2007 as
part of its weaponry modernization program.
Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono said the government had ordered
a total of 150 six-wheeled and four-wheeled APCs from PT Pindad in a contract
worth Rp1.12 trillion in total, which also included spare parts costs and
training and transportation fees.
LAW & ORDER
ASEAN rights body must have teeth: Govt.
"We want the future rights body to be more than just an
educational institution on human rights," ministry spokesperson Teuku
Faizasyah said.
He added however that it was too early to talk about the
kind of sanctions that will be imposed on countries that violate the rights of
their citizens.
Southeast Asian ministers will meet in
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is also reportedly
scheduled to attend the ASEAN meeting, highlighting the growing importance of
the regional group.
The panel is mandated to complete the draft in July, but
Faizasyah said it was possible to extend the drafting period should the bloc
fail to reach a consensus on the issue. The bloc hopes the rights body will be
established by the end of this year.
"It will not be easy (to convince our ASEAN
counterparts)," he said. "I know not all ASEAN countries are
progressive in terms of human rights. We hope that issue will not obstruct the
inclusion of progressive elements into the rights mechanism in the
region."
HEALTH
Swine flu cases hit 55
Confirmed cases of swine flu in
Three foreigners were among 27 new cases of H1N1, which
included a dozen confirmed human-to-human transmissions, Health Minister Siti Fadilah
Supari said on Thursday, Agence France-Presse reported.
Some of the patients were being treated in hospitals in
"
Three new swine flu infections were also confirmed at
In Denpasar, Bali,
In West Java,
In Yogyakarta, an 18-year-old student returning from an
exchange program in the
The health minister said on Thursday the government will continue
to isolate suspected swine flu victims and scan airport arrivals for the H1N1
virus despite claims by the WHO that preventive steps were now useless because
the outbreak was unstoppable, according to a report in The Jakarta Globe.
“I decided that
“We will keep on screening everyone who’s just flown in from
abroad and we will still give antiviral drugs to patients, as well as asking
travelers to fill out the health alert cards,” she said.
Supari acknowledged that treating patients in hospital
isolation rooms and giving them Tamiflu was costly, but said she would err on
the side of caution.
Swine flu has spread quickly in the country since the first cases
were confirmed last month after a British tourist and an Indonesian pilot
tested positive.
ECONOMY
Joachim
von Amsberg, a strong supporter of
“Faster
growth and a maturing democracy together put
“If the
new government shows decisiveness in overcoming some bottlenecks, that will be
a huge statement,” he said.
A day after his landslide re-election, Dr. Yudhoyono pledged
that he would spur growth in the country to a target of 4%-4.5% in 2009 as
interest rates fall to 6% by year-end.
Dr. Yudhoyono also said that
Head of the International Monetary Fund’s
On Friday, the National Development Planning Board
(Bappenas) expressed optimism that economic growth of 9% will be achieved in
2014, although the five-year medium term development plan (RPJM) had been designed
on the basis of moderate assessments, Antara reported.
In more reaction to the presidential election, the Indonesia
Stock Exchange (IDX) said more companies are set to list their shares on the exchange,
following the favorable market condition after Wednesday's peaceful
presidential election, The Jakarta Post
reported.
Director
for corporate grading Eddie Sugito said the election created positive sentiment
in the market.
Despite
slow progress, with only five companies going public in the first half of this
year, IDX president director Ito Warsito is confident of meeting the target of
getting 15 companies to go public by year's end.
The
Jakarta Composite Index closed the week at 2,063.09 compared to 2,075.30 a week
earlier. Dealers said the market had largely factored in the likely victory of Dr.
Yudhoyono before the election.
The
The
rupiah closed at 10,190 to the dollar compared to 10,210 a week earlier.
BUSINESS BRIEFS
MACROECONOMY
Foreigners
hold Rp88.57T of govt. bonds
Foreign
investors held Rp88.57 trillion ($8.8 billion) of the government's
rupiah-denominated bonds as of July 9, rising from Rp87.15 trillion at the end of
June, government data showed Friday, Dow Jones reported.
The data
showed that the total amount of the government's tradable bonds in the local
market was Rp555.91 trillion.
Bond
dealers said foreigners bought back government debt in recent days as they had
expected Wednesday’s presidential election would be peaceful.
New
Rp2 trillion bond float
The
government expects to raise Rp2 trillion ($197 million) in an auction of
government debt paper this week as part of its funding of the budget deficit,
the Finance Ministry said in a statement on Thursday, Reuters reported.
The
ministry raised Rp2.2 trillion at its last debt auction on June 23, slightly
above its target, on the back of expectations of better economic conditions.
The
ministry has so far raised around Rp98 trillion out of a gross debt issuance
target of Rp142.3 trillion for this year.
The 1.5-trillion-yen deal, created under a new assistance
scheme announced in May, was the first of a series of agreements that
Finance ministry representatives from the two countries came
to a basic agreement on the deal in
"We will officially sign the deal after discussing
details," he said without clarifying when the signing would take place.
He added that the emergency assistance will take the form of
a currency swap, aimed at helping
The deal will allow
Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said in
June that
INVESTMENT
Investment expected to grow 7% this year: Minister
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati hopes investment will
grow 7% to support the economy, enabling it to grow 4% this year, Asia Pulse
reported.
"If growth is still quite strong we hope investment in
the second quarter and in the second semester could grow higher than in the
first quarter which was recorded at 3.5%," she said on Wednesday.
She said investment growth was expected to come from foreign
direct investment, bank credits, expenditure at state-owned and private
companies and also from the capital market.
Data from the finance ministry show investment is predicted
to grow 5.6% and the economy 4.1% in the first semester this year.
Foreign direct investment in the first semester this year is
predicted to reach $4.549 billion or up on $3.5 billion in the same period last
year.
For the second semester it is predicted to reach $1.704
billion, down from $4.419 billion recorded in the same period last year.
Foreign portfolio investment in the first semester this year
is predicted to be minus $1.178 billion, down from minus $288 million in the
same period last year.
Foreign portfolio investment in the second semester of 2009
is predicted to reach $420 million, up from minus $1.309 billion in the same
period last year.
Meanwhile, according to the Investment Coordination Board
(BKPM) total investment, foreign and domestic, in the first semester reached
$7.3 billion, The Jakarta Post
reported.
BKPM data shows that foreign direct investment (FDI) in the
first semester this year reached $5.39 billion, a drop of 48% compared to the
same period last year. The number of FDI projects increased to 614 from 561
projects in the same period last year.
BKPM chairman Muhammad Lutfi said Monday the transportation,
warehouse and telecommunication sectors recorded the highest FDI value at $1.2
billion. The value for chemicals and the pharmacy sectors is $958.4 million,
followed by construction sector at $481.4 million. Trade and service sectors
accounted for $441.2 million, while metal, machinery, and electronics attracted
$306.5 million.
By country of origin, investors from the
Domestic investment more than doubled to $1.9 billion
compared to the same period last year. The figure for domestic investment
projects also increased to 134 projects from 107 projects in the same period
last year.
Lutfi said five top domestic investment sectors are chemicals,
food and beverages, textiles, mining, and plantations.
The contribution of actual domestic investment was 26.8% of
the total investment secured in the first semester of 2009, increasing 8%
compared to the same semester last year.
According to BKPM, this combined foreign direct investment
and domestic investment would create an additional 152,000 jobs for local
workers.
This will help compensate for jobs lost to export industries
and promote economic growth.
Govt. to build palm oil industrial clusters
The government will build integrated clusters of palm oil
industry in Seimangkel, North Sumatra and in Melangke in
The cluster projects will include palm oil plantations and
palm oil-based industries, Plantation Director General Achmad Mangga Barani
said.
The clusters are expected to be operational in the next two
years, Barani said, adding work is already in progress starting with land
clearing.
In the first phase, the government plans to build biodiesel plants
with a total capacity of 400,000 tons a year to be followed with construction
of crude palm oil (CPO)-based industries, he said.
This year, the country hopes to turn out 21 million tons of
CPO, 60% of which are to be processed locally to produce palm oil derivatives
like cooking oil and margarine as well as biodiesel, he said.
He said currently the country has 7.1 million hectares of
palm oil plantations and has exported most of CPO production.
Last month, a number of big palm oil producers have reportedly
shown interest and agreed to invest in an upstream palm oil industrial cluster
in Dumai, Riau, including PT Wilmar, which had already invested Rp7 trillion to
build the port facility and expand production capacity.
More
companies set to go public after election
More
companies are set to list their shares on the Indonesia Stock Exchange's (IDX)
board, seeing favorable market conditions after Wednesday's peaceful
presidential election, The Jakarta Post
reported.
The IDX
director for corporate grading, Eddie Sugito, says the result of the
presidential election has created good sentiment in the market, with the
incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono having unofficially secured
re-election in a single-round vote.
Despite
only five companies going public in the first half of this year, IDX president
director Ito Warsito is confident of meeting the target of getting 15 companies
to go public by year's end.
Local
mall operator PT Metropolitan Kencana was scheduled to officially list its
shares on the local bourse's main board Friday, after offering 10% of its
shares to the public.
Telecommunications
equipment service provider PT Katarina Utama will follow suit next Tuesday,
after selling 40% of its shares to the market.
Coal
company PT Garda Tujuh Buana listed its shares on IDX after the company's
previous initial public offering (IPO) held from July 1 to 3, when the company
offered 73% of its shares to the public at a price of Rp115 a share, and
managed to secure Rp210 billion.
Garda is
the fifth company to have gone public recently, after PT Sumber Alfaria
Trijaya, operator of the Alfamart chain of mini-marts, cell phone distributor
PT Trikomsel Oke (TRIO), used car financing firm PT Batavia Prosperindo Finance
(BPFI) and local mobile IT infrastructure provider PT Inovisi Infracom (INVS).
The index
has risen 13.4% this year, as
STATE CONCERNS
LPEI to finance $2.5B in exports: Official
The Indonesian Exports Financing Agency (LPEI) is ready to
help finance $2.5 billion of exports throughout 2009, a ministry official said
Tuesday, The Jakarta Post reported.
"With its own capital of about $400 million, plus (an
additional) $100 million (from
If economic conditions remain stable, LPEI's financing will
help support export growth of about 7.2%, he said.
LPEI will plug the gap between the ability of the banks to
finance exports and the real needs of exporters, Irawadi said.
H1
coffee exports seen up 19%
In June
alone, the world's second-biggest robusta producer exported 70,504 tons of
beans, up 76% from a year ago, trade data obtained by Reuters on Thursday showed.
"The
exports rise is a signal that demand remained strong despite the global crisis,
good news for countries like
Bean
exports via East Java's main
The
country’s coffee output has been estimated to grow 3% to 689,000 tons this
year, with robusta accounting for about 80%.
However,
according to Rachim Kartabrata, executive secretary of the Association of
Indonesian Coffee Exporters, robusta output may record a 10% on-year fall due
to unseasonal rain in southern Sumatra, while Arabica may stay stable, Dow
Jones reported.
The
Indonesian Anti Dumping Committee (KADI) said it has found strong indications
that steel products imported from
KADI
chairwomen Halida Miljani said the alleged dumping has caused injuries to local
producers of similar products.
The committee
is conducting investigation into a petition from steel maker PT Gunung Garuda
representing all producers of H&I Section of steel products in the country.
Miljani
said she could not yet announce the result of the investigation, which is still
in progress, Investor Daily reported.
SOEs
Telkom eyes profit growth in 2009
PT Telkom, the country's biggest telecoms firm, said
Thursday it expects profit growth to recover this year after a drop in 2008
thanks to a steady rupiah and less intense price war, Reuters reported.
Telkom also expects to acquire two small telecoms-related companies
by the end of the year, chief executive Rinaldi Firmansyah said in an
interview.
Firmansyah said he sees profit growth of around 5% to 10% this
year. “Net profit is hopefully good, because the rupiah is strengthening so we
are optimistic. We expect revenue to
grow in single digit, in the middle of the range."
Telkom, which has a stock market value of $16.92 billion, reported
net profit of Rp10.6 trillion ($1.05 billion) in 2008, down 17% from the
previous year, while revenue was up 2.1% in the year.
It reported a 22% fall in its first-quarter net profit due
to foreign currency losses.
Telkom shares have risen 17.4% so far this year, underperforming
a 53.75% gain in the market.
Telkom has been forced to slash prices in recent years due
to competitive pressure.
"The tariff was quite high and when suddenly new
players entered, the tariff came down. So you see in the last one or two years the
telecommunication industry was hit quite badly. But I think it was just a
short-term impact," said Firmansyah.
Telkom had said in February that it was considering buying a
stake in state-owned Telecommunication Company of Iran (TCI). The sale of TCI
is part of a wider drive by the Iranian government to speed up the sale of
state-owned companies.
It is also seeking to increase revenue from non-traditional sources
of income including the launch of internet protocol television (IPTV) services,
in a bid to defend its dominant position in the fixed-line and fast-growing
cellular markets.
The company sees opportunities to expand in areas such as
internet, broadband and wireless services and plans two acquisitions in areas
such as infrastructure and content by the end of the year, Firmansyah said.
On Monday, Telkom said it plans to buy a cellular tower
management company this year to centralize management of its tower infrastructure,
and may acquire a second information services firm, Dow Jones reported
PRIVATE SECTOR
Motorcycle
sales forecast to surge on interest cuts
Sales of
motorcycles in
The
interest rate cut will mark a turning point in the market of motorcycles,
chairman of the association of motorcycle industry Gunadi Sindhuwinata said.
Earlier
this week Bank
Around 80%
of motorcycle purchases in the country are financed with credits mainly by
financing firms, Investor Daily
reported.
Motorcycle
sales shrank 17% to 2.54 million units in the first half of this year from 3.06
million units in the same period last year on weak purchasing power of the
people.
Nusantara
secures $240M in loan for toll roads
Publicly
traded infrastructure company PT Nusantara Infrastruktur has secured a new loan
of Rp2.4 trillion ($240 million) to acquire two sections of toll road in Banten,
Asia Pulse reported.
The
acquisition of the toll roads valued at Rp3 trillion is expected to be
completed in August, a company director Danni Hasan said.
The
company will put up Rp600 billion and the rest to come in loan from a
consortium of six local banks, Hasan said.
He said
the toll roads are expected to be operational in the first half of 2010 and
will contribute significantly to the income of the company.
BANKS
Bank
lending up Rp7.74T in May
Bank
lending rose further in May, up Rp7.74 trillion ($762.95 million) from April
and a 19% growth from the same period last year, the latest data from Bank
Indonesia (BI) shows, The Jakarta Post
reported.
As of
May, outstanding loans reached Rp1,305.38 trillion, up from Rp1,297.64 trillion
in April, BI data reveals.
Rupiah-denominated
loans stood at Rp1,091.83 trillion in May, while foreign-currency-denominated
loans were at Rp213.55 trillion.
On Monday, BI said new bank credits reached Rp13 trillion
($1.3 billion) in the first half of this year with disbursement stronger in May
and June with the largest part of the credits, dominated by state banks, were
for working capital.
Total disbursement in the first half of this year was
17%-18% higher than in the same period last year, Asia Pulse reported.
Bank Mandiri to revise 2009 business plan
Bank Mandiri will revise its business plan following a Bank
Indonesia (BI) rate cut and foreign exchange fluctuations, Mandiri president
director Agus Martowardoyo said, Antara reported.
"Although the bank's credit expansion remains
unchanged, expansion of credit in foreign currencies will be lower than rupiah
credits," he said.
The appreciation of the rupiah will suppress Mandiri’s
expansion of credits in foreign currencies, he said.
Bank Mandiri earlier predicted credit growth in 2009 of between
17% and 18%.
Martowardoyo said there had almost been no change in
corporate net profits. "Net income margin and fee-based income have
remained relatively unchanged," he said.
BEI
to sign $210M syndicated loan
Bank
Ekspor Indonesia (BEI) will sign a $210 million syndicated loan on Friday to
help refinance the lender's loan and support future export financing, Bank
Mandiri said, Reuters reported.
Bank
Mandiri , one of BEI’s mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners, contributed the
biggest portion of that syndicated loan by lending $35 million to BEI,
according to a statement.
A total
of 16 banks participated in that syndicated loan, including Bank of
Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation and Krung Thai Bank.
On Monday, BEI signed an agreement with the Japan Bank for
International Cooperation (JBIC) for the disbursement of a loan worth $100 million
as part of a trade financing facility supported by
BEI president director Arifin Indra said JBIC had agreed to
disburse the loan after lawmakers passed a law earlier this year enabling the
transformation of the bank into a sovereign firm called the Indonesian Export
Financing Agency (LPEI) whose task is to give export financing for small and
medium enterprises.
BTN
plans to issue up to Rp700B bonds: Source
State-owned
PT Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN) plans to issue up to Rp700 billion in three- and
five-year bonds later this year, Bisnis
Indonesia reported Friday.
"The
amount being prepared is Rp500 billion, but it could be raised to Rp700 billion
if demand is good," the daily quoted an unnamed source as saying.
The
mortgage bank has named PT Mandiri Sekuritas and PT CIMB-GK Securities
Indonesia as co-lead arrangers for the planned issue, the source said.
Bank Panin plans Rp1.5T bond issue
Publicly-listed PT Bank Panin plans to raise about Rp1.5
trillion ($148 million) from a bond issue in the third quarter, its corporate
secretary said on Thursday, Reuters reported.
"We're still monitoring the market, such as demand and
interest rates, so we cannot say the exact date yet," Jasman Ginting said.
The bank, ranked ninth by assets among
Danamon raises stake in Adira unit
PT Bank Danamon, the country’s sixth-largest bank by assets,
on Thursday executed its option to raise its stake in subsidiary PT Adira
Dinamika Multi Finance from 75% to 95%, The
Jakarta Globe reported.
Data from the Indonesia Stock Exchange revealed that Danamon
bought 20% of Adira’s shares, worth Rp1.42 trillion ($141 million), from Mega
Value Profits for Rp7,135 a share, almost double Adira’s market price.
Danamon president director Sebastian Paredes had earlier
said the company planned to raise its stake in Adira as part of its plan to
take advantage of the higher interest-rate margins available in the consumer
financing business.
Currently, 20% of the bank’s outstanding loans come from Adira.
POWER
PLN
opens tender to buy 3.26M tons coal
State
power company PT PLN has opened a tender to buy 3.26 million tons of
sub-bituminous coal per year for power plants in islands outside Java, a
company official said on Friday, Reuters reported.
The coal,
to be supplied for 20 years, is for coal-fired power plants being built in the
first part of the government's crash program, which will add 10,000 MW of
generating capacity to ease chronic power shortages. A second program will add
another 10,000 MW of capacity.
PLN needs
a total of 31.9 million tons of coal a year for the first part of the 10,000 MW
crash power program, in which most of the new coal-fired power plants are still
under construction.
Three new
coal-fired power plants with total generating capacity of 1,960 MW are expected
to start commercial operation later this year.
PLN has
secured supply contracts for 15.3 million tons and is in the process of signing
contracts for a further 13.2 million tons.
The coal
will be supplied to power plants in Aceh, North Sumatra, West Sumatra,
OIL & GAS
Tangguh delivers first LNG to
The first delivery of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the
BP-led Tangguh project in West Papua for South Korea took place on Monday, the
Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources said, Dow Jones reported.
The LNG was delivered to
"The first LNG delivery from the Tangguh field will
strengthen the position of
Total investment in the LNG project is estimated at $5
billion.
The consignment, for
Tangguh has several foreign supply contracts, including a
2.6 million tons per year (tpy) contract with China National Offshore Oil Corp
(CNOOC).
US firm Sempra Energy also has a 20-year contract to lift
3.6 million tpy with the right to divert half to customers other than its own
terminal in Mexico.
The project also has a supply contract with
Pertamina to invest $120M for LPG storage plants
State-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina plans to spend
$102 million to build four liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) storage terminals with
total capacity of 30,000 tons, a company official said on Monday, The Jakarta Globe reported.
Pertamina is seeking to build two LPG storage plants with
10,000-ton capacities in Tanjung Priok,
“The construction of the plants is expected to start at the
end of this year, and they will require 18 months to finish,” Faisal said.
Pertamina is also selecting a contractor to build 10,000-ton
LPG storage facilities in both Sulawesi and
Pertamina’s LPG program, which is aimed at encouraging
people to switch from kerosene to LPG for cooking, is expected to save the
government Rp20 trillion ($1.92 billion) this year by replacing 4.1 million
kiloliters of kerosene.
MINING
Brazil’s Vale backs E. Java copper, gold project
Project manager, Australian-listed Intrepid Mines Ltd, said
Vale had been granted an option to take up the stake in the Tujuh Bukit
sulphide copper and gold project.
Intrepid said Tujuh Bukit has a potentially large gold-silver-copper
system underneath a near-surface gold-silver oxide cap. Intrepid and PT IMN
would retain sole rights to the oxide gold-silver deposit.
Intrepid and its Indonesian partner, PT Indo Multi Niaga,
will retain the remaining 40% interest.
Drilling in the copper-gold zone has intercepted wide zones
of mineralization, including one hole intercepting 627 meters of 0.5 grams per
ton gold and 0.5% copper per ton.
Antam plans $40M gold
project in Banten
State-owned miner PT
Aneka Tambang (Antam) said on Friday it plans to spend $40 million to develop
the newly-acquired Cibaliung gold project in Banten, Reuters reported.
Antam has completed the ownership transfer of PT Cibaliung
and spent $8 million on the acquisition, Bimo Satryo, Antam's corporate
secretary said.
“We plan to spend $40 million to develop the project until it starts production,” Satryo said in a text message.
Antam signed a Heads of Agreement with ANZ Bank and
Australian firm Arc Exploration Limited earlier this year for the transfer of
ownership of PT Cibaliung Sumber Daya, which operates Cibaliung gold project.
PT Cibaliung was previously 95%-owned by Arc while Antam owned
the remaining 5%.
Antam expects Cibaliung to start production in the second
half of 2010. The gold mine is expected to produce 500 kg of gold next year and
will have a full production of 2,000 kg at the start of 2011.
Antam has said it expects gold output to reach 3.8-4 tons
next year, increasing from 2.8 tons in 2009 with the acquisition of the
Cibaliung project, which has a mine life of six years.
Nusantara Smelting to build copper smelter
PT Nusantara Smelting said it is optimistic its plan to
build a copper smelter in Bontang,
A number of foreign banks, including from Europe and
Company president Juangga Mangasi said the smelter is
expected to be operational in 2013 with an annual production capacity of
200,000 tons of cathodes.
The raw material will be supplied by PT Freeport
Nusantara Smelting said it is discussing a partnership with
a copper company in
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[1] This Trade and Investment News is a publication of the Coordinating
Ministry for Economic Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia. Readers are
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