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], 29 June 2009
Highlights
National
·
Choppers
needed to fight forest fires in Riau
Politics
·
Electronic
voting system possible for 2014 poll
Terrorism
·
Police
say six charged with terrorism offences in latest wave of arrests
Security
·
Vietnamese
military official says defense cooperation to be signed with
Law & order
·
New
regulations issued by police to improve standards
Health
·
Seven
foreigners quarantined over swine flu fears in
Economy
·
Finance
minister says rupiah stable, in line with fundamentals
·
Second
round of tax reforms begins
Business briefs
Macroeconomy
·
OECD
sees 3.5% growth in 2009
Investment
·
Rp2
trillion upstream palm oil industrial cluster wins support
State concerns
·
Foreign
ministers of
·
SOEs
·
Toll
road operator PT Jasa Marga expects 10% improvement in profit
·
Government
lobbies
Private sector
·
Matahari
to expand hypermarket, supermarket presence
Banks
·
Bank
Rakyat
Power
·
Agreement
reached on new power rate system for regions
Oil & gas
·
BP
sells share in
Mining
·
PT
Bayan Resources to spend $68 million on first coal briquette plant
NATIONAL
Choppers
needed to fight forest fires in Riau
The Riau provincial Forest Service said on Friday it needed
helicopters to cope with massive blazes as the number of forest and peat land
fires increased sharply, bringing statements that the fires represented an
environmental catastrophe, Antara reported.
“We badly need special helicopters to put out the fires,”
said Said, the head of the forest and bushfire unit of the Forest Service.
Said noted that Riau did not have special fire-fighting
helicopters to carry and drop water on the blazes, despite the frequency of
forest fires in the province.
Poor access due to the topography of the area and vast
tracts of burning forest and scrubland pose a problem for firefighters, he
said.
“The expanse of the burned area makes it difficult for
firefighters to reach the center of the location so they can only put out the
fire on the fringes.”
He said he hoped the central government, through the
Ministry of Forestry, would be able to help by sending helicopters to support
their efforts.
The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BKG),
based at Sultan Syarif Kasim II Airport in Pekanbaru, announced on Friday that
34 fires had suddenly erupted in the province.
“As many as 34 hotspots were detected in several districts
and municipalities in Riau,” said Marzuki, from the agency’s analysis team.
He said that based on the latest surveillance by the US
NOAA-18 weather satellite, forest fires were spreading in eight separate areas:
Siak, Rokan Hilir, Rokan Hulu, Pelalawan, Indragiir Hulu, Kampar, Bengkalis and
Kuantan Singingi.
The weather agency also predicted very little chance of rain
in the province over the next few days.
POLITICS
Electronic voting system possible for 2014 poll: Official
The government expressed optimism an electronic voting
system could be applied for the next general election in 2014 with the
realization of the single identity number (SIN) program by 2011, an official
said Thursday, Kompas reported.
“An electronic voting system would be aimed at providing a
smoother and more transparency voting process,” said Agency for the Assessment
and Application of Technology (BPPT) chief Marzan Aziz Iskandar.
Iskandar said a recent trial of the SIN program in a recent
sub-district election in Jembrana regency,
The Home Ministry said it will run pilot SIN programs in
West Sumatra, Makassar in South Sulawesi, Denpasar in Bali and
"This system will be used to verify and check the
validity of a citizen's identity, which will form the basis of the issuance of
citizen documents such as passports, driving licenses, insurance policies and
land certificates," said Home Minister Mardiyanto.
TERRORISM
Six suspects
named in alleged terrorist activities: Police
Six people detained in the past week, including two
Singaporeans, were officially named suspects by the National Police on Friday
over their alleged involvement in terrorist activities, Tempo Interactive reported.
National Police chief detective Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji said
the six were arrested in an operation by the police’s Detachment 88
counter-terrorism unit.
The team netted eight people in total during the operations
in Lampung and
The Singaporeans were identified as Husaini and Samad bin
Sobari. Police caught Samad in Lampung on June 21, while Husaini was arrested
while heading for Sragen in
Police are still hunting for two more suspects, the sons of
Sobari, believed to be Singaporeans, reported Bernama.
“The two sons escaped. We’re still after them now,” said a
police source who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Both of them are young
adults and are involved in this.”
Husaini's wife is also accused of aiding and abetting her
husband.
With Husaini's arrest, all five members of the Jemaah
Islamiah (JI) group in the Changi plot led by Mas Selamat Kastari have been
captured, The Straits Times reported. Kastari is being detained in
The other three are: Mohamed Rashid Zainal Abidin, detained
under Singapore’s Internal Security Act in May 2006; Ishak Mohamed Noohu, detained
in November 2006; and Mohammad Hassan Saynudin, who was arrested in June last
year in Palembang, South Sumatra and is currently serving an 18-year-jail term.
A police spokesman said that both Husaini and Samad are
long-time JI members and they had undergone illegal military training in
Husaini had carried out reconnaissance activities to
facilitate attacks in
In response to the arrests, police beefed up security at a
number of key locations in Cilacap,
Tighter guard was provided at certain places including a
state oil and gas firm Pertamina refinery, compound, a power plant and an
industrial center.
Backlash against radicals
at E. Java mosque
In a community backlash against Muslim radicals, residents
in a
Residents of Jalan Sidotopo IV in the
The resolution was brokered only after a meeting with the
head of the mosque and local authorities at the Sukolilo subdistrict office.
Nur Iskandar, who lives near the mosque, said the residents’
action was the culmination of their resentment toward Umar Ibrahim, the chair
of the mosque’s governing committee.
She said Ibrahim had long used the mosque to host study
meetings for hard-line Muslims, and had invited militant cleric Abu Bakar
Ba’asyir.
Ba’asyir once headed the Indonesian Mujahideen Council, an
organization advocating the implementation of Shariah law in
He has also been accused of serving as the spiritual leader
of the Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist network, though he denies the group exists.
He was jailed for complicity in the 2002
Residents in the
“They said that government officials were infidels, that
people who participated in the election were infidels and to celebrate the
birthday” of the Prophet Muhammad was heretical, Iskandar said.
Abdul Mu’ti, the head of Center for Dialogue and Cooperation
Among Civilizations, an organization that promotes interfaith dialogue, said
that the residents’ actions indicated that tolerance toward radicals had worn
thin.
Such hard-line movements have tarnished efforts “to build
the image of Indonesian Muslims as moderates who appreciate pluralism,” Mu’ti
said.
The resentment came to a head as the group’s meetings became
more frequent following the return of Ibrahim’s son, Saifudin, also known as
Abu Fida, who had served out a prison term for a minor role in the 2002
Muhammadiyah scholar Moeslim Abdurrahman said he was aware
of other cases in which communities rejected hard-liners’ activities, but said
such objections were rarely covered by the media.
He said local residents had the right to reject teachings
they considered to be hard-line, but such complaints should be properly
channeled and nonviolent.
Last month, residents of a housing complex in the Sawangan
area of Depok, after repeated protests against the activities of a small mosque
there that they claimed was preaching radicalism, managed to ban the activities
of the hard-liners, said one of the residents, who declined to give his name.
SECURITY
Defense agreement to be signed with
The Indonesian and Vietnamese governments will soon sign a
defense cooperation agreement to enable them to conduct joint military
activities, an official said on Thursday, the Vietnamese state VNA news agency reported.
“Both governments hope the defense cooperation agreement will
allow the two countries to carry out joint sea patrols,” said Vietnamese
People's Army Chief Snr. Lt. Gen. Nguyen Khac Nghien after a meeting with Armed
Forces (TNI) chief Gen. Djoko Santoso.
Santoso said the agreement will cover bilateral cooperation
in training and the establishment of information channels to share mutual
concerns.
LAW & ORDER
Police issue new law
enforcement regulations
The National Police on Thursday issued a new set of law
enforcement standards meant to make headway on stalled reforms, The Jakarta Globe reported.
The regulations are a gesture aimed at making the country’s
police agencies “more transparent, humanist and professional. This is an
ongoing process because it’s not easy to change our personnel’s mind-set and
culture,” National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri said.
Danuri added that the new rules stipulated that human rights
violations by police officers would be fully investigated.
Danuri said the rules, which contain 64 separate articles,
outline clear guidelines on the conduct of law enforcement officers,
comprehensively covering how police should behave during the process of
investigating, summoning, searching, arresting and confiscating material from
suspects.
The new law enforcement statutes are the result of a
cooperative effort that brought together the National Police, civil society,
the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Embassy of the
Danuri said it would take time for the regulations to be
effectively imposed on officers at all levels and ranks.
“We have more than 380,000 officers and it’s not as easy as
it would seem. After the presidential election, we will disseminate this
regulation, with the help of the IOM and NGOs,” he said.
AGO
names businessman Tjandra graft fugitive
The Attorney General’s Office on Friday declared businessman
Joko Tjandra a fugitive, and sought the help of the Interpol and the National
Police to bring him back to the country to serve a two-year sentence for
corruption, The Jakarta Post reported.
“We’ve asked Interpol in
The Supreme Court on June 11 issued a verdict upon the AGO's
request of review, sentencing Tjandra and former Bank Indonesia governor
Syahril Sabirin to two years’ imprisonment and ordering Tjandra to pay $51.88
million in restitution to the state.
A day before the Supreme Court issued the verdict Tjandra
flew to
The AGO said earlier this week that Tjandra might have flown
to
Pandjaitan said the AGO had also sought the help of the
Foreign Ministry and Indonesian Embassy in
HEALTH
Seven foreigners quarantined
for H1N1 in
A 10-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl, both from Victoria
in Australia, are in isolation at Bali's Sanglah Public Hospital waiting for
results of tests for the virus, health authorities say, Australian Associated
Press reported.
They join 22-year-old
Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said Wednesday she was
"very worried" that Australians who flock to Bali's famous surf
beaches would bring the virus to the vast archipelago.
Supari said
The measures introduced in Bali, including airport body
scanners and health questionnaires, are standard and have also been adopted in
Era of ‘sci-fi’ medicines
arrives in
Chairman of the Indonesian Pharmacologists Association
(Ikafi) Iwan Dwiprahasto said that following the global trend, more and more
people suffering from certain diseases in
He cited as an example, the increasing use of biological
drugs (such as interferons, interleukins and monoclonal antibodies) used for
treating patients with cancer instead of radiation therapy and chemotherapy.
Biological drugs can also include growth hormones, other
hormonal drugs and vaccines.
"Biological drugs are not commonly used yet because
only specialists can prescribe them. In the future, however, general
practitioners will be able to prescribe them," said Iwan, a professor in
pharmacology at
"The patents of innovative biological drugs will
expire. Consequently biological products will become a trend among
pharmaceutical firms within the next 10 to 15 years."
In anticipation of this trend, Iwan said that
ECONOMY
Rupiah
in line with fundamentals: Minister
The
rupiah currency was stable and in line with economic fundamentals, Finance
Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said on Thursday, Reuters reported.
She said
the government was very aware of risks from balance of payments problems,
following reports from both the World Bank and the OECD that the country is
expected to see current account deficits in the mid-term.
Indrawati
also commented that a volatile dollar created risks for emerging economies
while it was the world's dominant currency, backing calls for a more diversified
international monetary system, as recommended by leading emerging economies
such as
In March, the government secured a near $15 billion currency
swap with
The swap, which will allow importers to pay for Chinese
goods in yuan instead of dollars, followed moves by
At Indrawati’s Finance Ministry, a second round of major tax
reforms was launched on Monday aimed at improving the capacity of tax officials
and better integration of taxpayer data, The
Jakarta Post reported.
"There are two highly crucial things involved in this
latest reform: human resources and an information support system,"
Indrawati said.
The loans needed for the latest tax reforms to be carried
out until 2013 will reach Rp200 billion to Rp300 billion, Director General of
Tax Darmin Nasution said.
He said the budget for the tax directorate in 2009 was Rp4
trillion of which 50% went to employee salaries.
Nasution said the directorate also received foreign grants,
including from
The last major tax reform was launched in 2006 aimed at
cleansing the previously corrupt tax office.
In 2005, tax revenue amounted to Rp298.3 trillion ($29.8
billion), but tax revenue had jumped to Rp571.1 trillion last year, said
Nasution.
Nasution also said the number of taxpayers jumped to 14.1
million in May from 10.6 million at the end of 2008, Antara reported.
BUSINESS BRIEFS
MACROECONOMY
Economy likely to grow 3.5% in 2009: OECD
Economic growth is likely to slow to 3.5% this year before
accelerating to 4.8% in 2010, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) said Wednesday in its latest Economic Outlook report, Dow
Jones reported..
The country’s economic activity will likely rebound from the
second half of this year due to the government's fiscal stimulus and monetary
loosening, OECD said.
The OECD forecast the country's inflation rate will ease to
5.5% this year and 5.3% in 2010.
"The cycle of policy rate cuts is most probably coming
to an end, as activity appears to be picking up," the report by the
economic grouping said.
The OECD forecast the budget deficit to reach 2% of GDP this
year, and said a deficit of such size is financeable without putting undue
pressure on government bond yields.
The government forecasts a slightly higher deficit of
between 2.5% and 2.6% of GDP.
The OECD forecast a $3.2 billion surplus in
It warned that a slower-than-expected recovery in global
demand would further impinge on
In its previous report on
The World Bank meanwhile said
The bank said in a report published on Monday that the trend
is expected to continue through the next two years with the deficit to peak at
2.7% of GDP in 2010.
The deficit will be wider in 2010, although the country's
GDP is forecast to grow by a higher level of 5%, it said.
Improvement will begin in 2011 when the deficit is forecast
to decline to 2.6%, with GDP expected to expand by 6%.
The current account balance reflects the condition of a
country's trade including exports, imports of goods and services.
Earlier, Bank
Govt. raises Rp2.2T from latest bond auction
The government on Tuesday sold Rp2.2
trillion ($220 million) worth of bonds, slightly above its target of
Rp2 trillion, as part of its efforts to plug this year's budget
deficit of Rp139.5 trillion, the Finance Ministry said in a statement, The Jakarta Post reported.
The government received total offers of more than Rp6.32 trillion, the ministry
said.
The government sold Rp1 trillion of bonds, maturing on June 10, 2010; Rp700
billion of bonds, maturing on May 15, 2016, with a 10.75% yield; and Rp500
billion of bonds maturing on September 15, 2024, with a 10% yield.
INVESTMENT
Tenders
held twice previously failed for lack of interest in the project.
The
Chinese company had already submitted tender documents and the tender result
would be announced early July, Indrio said.
Earlier,
Transport Minister Jusman S Djamal said if plans to hold the next tender
failed, such as for lack of bidders, the government would take over the work.
There
were few investors interested in building the 17.3-km railway project to cost
around Rp1.5 trillion ($136 million), Djamal said.
He said a
number of investors such as Alstom from
Riau
palm oil industrial cluster to cost Rp20T
Construction
of an upstream palm oil industrial cluster in Dumai, Riau, will cost around
Rp20 trillion ($3 billion), head of the provincial industry and trade office
Herliyan Saleh said, Asia Pulse reported.
The funds
would be needed to build road infrastructure, port, drinking water supply
facility and new units of processing factory, Saleh said.
Saleh
said a number of big palm oil producers had shown interest and agreed to invest
in the project.
PT
Wilmar, for example, had already invested Rp7 trillion to build the port
facility and expand production capacity.
The
interest shown by palm oil companies had also encouraged banks to take part in
financing the project, he said in the Investor
Daily.
Support
from the government by declaring Dumai as the basis for the expansion of
downstream palm oil industry in the country was needed, he said.
The Japanese government will bring investors to
"I cannot confirm the schedule, but our government’s
policy is already there,” Shiojiri said.
"The government of
It was reported early this year that
The $500 million financing package comes after
China's Geely to invest $30M in car market
Chinese
principal Geely Holdings Group said it will invest $30 million through its
Indonesian unit, PT Geely Mobil
Richard
Yang, a director of Geely Holdings, said
He said
this year Geely will assemble 400 units of cars at PT Gaya Motor of which 125
will be exported to
Next
year, Geely hopes to increase production to 1,000 units to be exported to
Saudi Arabian investors eye opportunities in W. Java
A number of Saudi Arabian businessmen are interested in
investing in agricultural and animal husbandry sectors as well other small and
medium business sectors in
The investors' interest was expressed during a meeting
between West Java Governor H Ahmad Heryawan and Saudi Arabian Ambassador to
Indonesia Salim Seghaf Al Zufrie at the governor's office on Wednesday.
"There are several potential investments in
After a meeting with the governor, the Saudi ambassador and
representatives of Saudi businesses held meetings with the local investment
coordinating board.
STATE CONCERNS
Indonesia,
New Zealand FTA within months: Ministers
Indonesian
and New Zealand Free Trade Agreement talks under the auspices of the Asean bloc
have been progressing well despite the economic crisis and both countries
expect the bilateral arrangement can be concluded within months, say foreign
ministers, The Jakarta Post reported.
In a
press conference after meeting with his
“We
discussed general trade issues and specifically the halal certification of the
meat we import from their country. On the Indonesian side, the Indonesian Ulema
Council (MUI) will deal with the (issuance of) halal meat certification,” he
said.
Wirajuda
said there would be further discussion between the countries on the
technicalities of meeting the requirements of halal certification, adding that
the MUI had already been involved in addressing the problem of the different
procedures in issuing certificates.
Australia approves $1B standby loan for Indonesia
The loan, pledged by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd
during a visit to
“
Under the joint scheme, the ADB has agreed to provide $1
billion, Japan $1.5 billion and the World Bank $2 billion.
The ADB said last month that the loan would allow
Sales
of car tires pick up in May
Exports
surged 16.3% to 2.33 million units from 2 million units in April, chairman of
the Association of Tire Makers Aziz Pane said.
Sales in
May rose 12.7% from the previous month's 2.91 million units but fell 25% from
the same month in 2008.
Pane said
the trend is encouraging, adding sales grew to both car makers for original
equipment and to retailers for replacement.
Growing
demand in exports market was the largest contribution to the increase in sales,
the association said.
SOEs
Jasa
Marga expects 2009 profit to grow more than 10%
State-owned
toll road operator and builder PT Jasa Marga expects 2009 net profit to grow by
more than 10% due to an increase in revenue, its finance director told
reporters Wednesday, Dow Jones reported.
"2009
revenue is expected to exceed Rp3.7 trillion ($356 million), from Rp3.35
trillion a year earlier. This could support us having our net profit for 2009
expand by more than 10%," finance director Reynaldi Firmansjah said.
Jasa
Marga, the nation's largest toll road company by assets and revenue, had net
profit last year of Rp707 billion.
Ministry lobbying
Transportation Ministry has sent a letter to the Japanese
government asking for increased flight frequencies for flag carrier Garuda
“For
According to Faik Fahmi, Garuda
At the moment, Garuda`s flight from Jakarta to Tokyo has to
transit in Denpasar so that the flight time extends to around six hours.
"The demand for a direct flight is understandable
because a non-stop Jakarta-Tokyo direct flight will only take four hours. For
businessmen, saving two hours is something very significant," Fahmi said.
Flights from
Garuda serves the Jakarta-Denpasar-Tokyo route with Boeing
747 aircraft and it will use wide-bodied A330 planes if its request for
increased flight frequencies is met.
"We coordinated with the Indonesian embassy in
Semen Tonasa secures Rp3T loan for new plant
Cement maker PT Semen Tonasa has secured a syndicated loan
of Rp3.547 trillion ($340 million) from several local banks to construct a new
factory and power plant in Pangkep Tonasa in South Sulawesi, Antara reported.
Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), Bank Jatim and Bank Sulawesi
Selatan and Bank Mandiri signed the loan agreement with Semen Tonasa on Monday,
Bank Mandiri president director Agus Martowardoyo said.
Semen Tonasa president director Satar Taba said the loan
would be used to finance the construction of a new factory with a production
capacity of 2.5 million tons per year and a power plant with a capacity of 70
MW.
Taba said the two projects would cost a total of Rp5.25
trillion.
Wika secures $325M in new contracts
State-owned construction firm PT Wijaya Karya (Wika) said it
secured new contracts valued at Rp3.35 trillion ($325 million) in the first
five months of this year, Asia Pulse reported.
Wika still hopes to secure more contracts valued at Rp1.3
trillion until the end of June, corporate secretary Natal Argawan said.
He said the new projects were won by subsidiaries including
Wika Induk, Wika Beton, Wika Realty, Wika Intrade, Wika Insan Pertiwi and Wika
Gedung.
This year the company hopes to secure Rp9.39 trillion worth
of new contracts, he added.
PRIVATE SECTOR
Matahari
to expand Hypermart, Foodmart brands
PT
Matahari Putra Prima is planning to specialize and expand by launching more of
its Hypermart grocery outlets and opening more food courts under its Foodmart
brand, The Jakarta Globe reported.
Danny
Kojongian, a Matahari director, said on Friday that the company planned to open
five Foodmarts this year.
“The
Foodmarts contribute 10% to our retail food business,” he said. “They’re far
better than the (older) supermarkets, which were posting losses.”
Matahari’s
retail operations include its Hypermart and Foodmart outlets, which account for
50% of the company’s profits. Its department stores account for the rest.
Matahari
began closing and converting its older supermarkets into Hypermarts and
Foodmarts in 2002, to compete in the rapidly growing hypermarket sector.
Matahari has already turned 27 supermarkets into Foodmarts.
“Hypermarts
are all about low-cost pricing, while Foodmarts are based on a customer- convenience
strategy. Foodmarts are usually situated close to residential areas,” he said.
This year,
Matahari plans to spend between Rp600 billion ($58.8 million) and Rp1 trillion
to build nine Hypermart outlets and three department stores. The capital
expenditure will be funded via internal cash flows and cash from previous bond
sales.
On
Wednesday, Trade Minister Mari Pangestu said modern retail sales during the
past five months saw positive growth which matched the results of a survey by
AC Nielsen that retail sales in the country grew by 7% in the first quarter,
Antara reported.
Ramayana department store’s sales are up 5% this year
compared to last year, while another retailer, Tiptop recorded 12% growth in
sales compared with last year’s Rp500 billion.
The chairman of the Indonesia Retail Business Association
(Aprindo), Benjamin J Mailool, said the
impact of the crisis was still being felt since there is a slowdown in new
outlet development.
Hoewever, Mailool said he was still optimistic the 10%
target of growth in retail turnover this year would be achieved.
BANKS
BRI to issue Rp2T in bonds
PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) announced plans to issue at
least Rp2 trillion ($194 million) in bonds in the second semester to increase
capital and credit distribution, Asia Pulse reported.
"We have already made preparations for the
issuance," said the bank’s head of planning and strategy, Irianto.
He said it would take
around two months to audit the first semester’s financial report and therefore
the issuance of the bonds would only be done after July.
Irianto said no decision had been made yet on whether the
bond would mature in five or 10 years.
Plans to issue bonds earlier had been delayed by poor
economic conditions.
POWER
Govt., House agree on region-based power rate
The government and lawmakers have agreed to adopt a
region-based electricity rate system, said J. Purwono, Director General for
Electricity and Energy Utilization at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry,
The Jakarta Post reported.
The new electricity rate system would be incorporated in new
regulations on electricity which are currently being deliberated by the
government and House of Representatives, said Purwono, adding that about 90% of
the bill has been agreed on.
"We expect the House to pass the bill by the end of the
lawmakers' current term on July 3. The new system is expected to be implemented
by the end of 2010 or by the beginning of 2011," Purwono said.
"For regions covering more than one province, the rates
will be determined by the central government. For regions within one province,
rates will be determined by the provincial government," Purwono said.
With the new system, regions with better electricity
services such as Java and
"The subsidy will still be provided, but will mainly go
to regions outside Java and
The government has agreed to sanction PLN`s business margin
of 2% or about Rp3 trillion to calculate electricity subsidies for 2010,
Purwono said on Tuesday.
Earlier, PLN proposed a 3% business margin to calculate
electricity subsidy for 2010, Antara reported.
Star Energy to invest $400M to expand geothermal plant
PT Star Energy, a private energy contractor and geothermal
power producer, is seeking to invest up to $400 million to expand and open two
generators by 2012 at its Wayang Windu geothermal power plant in Pengalengan,
“We have allocated $350 million to $400 million to expand
the Wayang Windu plant,” said Bret Mattes, Star Energy’s chief executive and
managing director.
The Wayang Windu plant was developed jointly by Star Energy
and PT Pertamina Geothermal Energy, a subsidiary of state-owned oil and gas
company PT Pertamina.
The two companies signed an energy sales contract with PLN
to develop up to 400 MW of generating capacity, with each generating unit set
to operate for up to 30 years.
The Wayang Windu plant, the country’s biggest geothermal
power station, currently has two turbines that generate 110 MW and 170 MW.
Star Energy has also suggested trading carbon credits from
its Wayang Windu Unit 2.
The scheme could provide the plant with up to $8 million per
year in carbon credits, said Alex Smillie, Star Energy’s vice president of
geothermal operations.
OIL & GAS
Pertamina,
Arrtu to build $1.9B methanol plants
State-owned
oil and gas company PT Pertamina will team up with PT Arrtu Mega Energie
(Arrtu) to build two methanol factories at a total cost of $1.9 billion, Asia
Pulse reported on Thursday.
Construction
of the two factories with a capacity of 800,000 tons in Indramayu,
The two
factories are expected to start operation in 2012 with a total capacity of 1.7
million tons a year, Richard said.
The
factories will use sub bituminous coal as feedstock to be supplied by state
coal producer PT Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam.
Methanol
could be used as an alternative to oil fuel, Richard said.
Pertamina
will have a production share of 20% or 340,000 tons, he said.
Pertamina buys BP West Java gas block
State-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina paid $280
million for a 46% stake in the Offshore Northwest Java (ONWJ) oil and gas block
from BP Plc, and will incorporate the block in its plans to lift oil and gas
output this year, Pertamina president director Karen Agustiawan said Thursday, Dow
Jones reported.
Agustiawan told reporters at a ceremony announcing the deal
with BP that Pertamina will produce around 12,000 barrels a day of crude from
its stake in the block, and around 100,000 million standard cubic feet (mmscfd)
of gas a day.
The ONWJ block is forecast to produce about 28,000 barrels
per day (bpd) of oil this year compared to about 24,000 bpd last year,
according to industry data.
Gas output from ONWJ is expected to be around 270,000 mmscfd
this year, unchanged from 2008.
Agustiawan added that Pertamina plans to raise its oil
production this year by around 12% compared to 2008, and its gas production by
around 8%.
BP put up for sale a 46% in ONWJ because it said the block
did not fit with the company's long-term strategy. Other major shareholders in
ONWJ include
The firm said the sale would not affect BP's other interests
in
Pertamina starts market trial of LPG substitution
State-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina has begun to
market Dimethyl Ether (DME) as part of an effort to replace liquefied petroleum
gas (LPG), Hanung Budya, Pertamina’s deputy director for trade and marketing
said Wednesday, The Jakarta Post
reported.
"We will carry out a market trial of DME over the next
three months," Budya said, adding that Pertamina wanted the use of DME as
a household fuel to increase.
"If households would use DME, we could sell the LPG to
other markets and get a better price," Achmad Faisal, Pertamina's trade
and marketing director said.
For the trial, Pertamina filled gas bottles with a mix of
20% DME and 80% LPG and distributed the bottles and the stoves to 300
households and 150 home industries in
According to Budya, DME was preferable to LPG as it cost 20%
less. “It is also clean burning,” he said.
“In addition, it will help the national budget as the
government won’t have to rely on costly imports for the kerosene-to-LPG
program.”
The kerosene-to-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 kl
of kerosene.
Nationwide LPG consumption is forecast to jump this year by
about 50% to three million tons as Pertamina continues to roll out the
conversion program.
PGN eyes higher gas distribution this year
State gas distribution firm PT PGN will increase its
distribution target to as much as 800 million standard cubic feet per day,
president director Hendi Prio Santoso said on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
"This year we aim (to distribute) around 700-800 million
cubic feet per day, from an average of 578 million per day last year,"
Santoso told reporters following a shareholders’ meeting.
PGN shareholders on Tuesday also agreed to the government's
request for the company to pay Rp1 trillion total dividends for 2008.
Santoso said PGN would pay out all of its Rp634 billion net
profit from 2008 as dividends, and fund the remainder of the dividend payment
using retained earnings.
He said PGN will allocate $250 million for capital
expenditure (capex) this year, higher than the $150 million the company had
previously planned, as some of its projects, such as the
Santoso said PGN will fund 60% of its capex budget this year
from internal cash and the remainder using loans from the World Bank and Japan
Bank for International Cooperation.
Santoso said PGN currently has around $530 million in cash.
The government's request for a large dividend payout won't affect PGN' capex
budget, he said, Dow Jones reported.
Ratu
Prabu earmarks $150M for capital spending
PT Ratu
Prabu Energy said it will set aside $150 million to acquire a number of oil and
gas fields and to finance expansion in property business, Asia Pulse reported.
The company
will issue bonds and launch rights issue if internal cash and bank loans are
not enough, its finance director Gemilang Zaharin said.
Zaharin
said the company hopes to secure $50 million in bank loans.
He said
the bond might be issued this year and rights issue not later than the first
quarter of next year.
Part of
the fund will be used to buy two units of drilling rigs and to expand gas
production capacity, Investor Daily
said.
MINING
Bayan
to spend $68M on first coal briquette plant
Publicly
listed coal producer PT Bayan Resources will start producing briquettes from
its new upgraded coal plant at a rate of 300,000 tons this year, The Jakarta Post reported.
"The
volume has been included in the sales volume target for this year,"
president director Chin Wai Fong said.
He said
the new plant would be the first one in
Bayan is
targeting this year's gross profit to rise by 86.2% on the back of higher sales
volume and lower production costs.
"This
is mostly because of an increase in production volume and a drop in production
costs," Bayan director for corporate affairs and corporate secretary Jenny
Quantero said on Thursday, adding that gross profit would reach Rp1.75 trillion
($171.5 million) this year from Rp939.5 billion.
She said
the company had signed contracts to deliver 10 million tons of coal for clients
in
She added
the drop in production costs, estimated to reach between $50 and $55 a ton this
year, lower than $71 in the fourth quarter last year on the back of lower oil
prices, would contribute to the rise in revenue.
BHP Billiton to sell C. Kalimantan mine at $400M
The divestment plan is in process with a number of local
investors keen on taking over the asset, PT Lahai Coal,
PT Indika Energy, PT Bumi Resources and PT Medco E&P
have shown serious interest in acquiring the stake, Infra Diananjaya, the
president of Lahai Coal, said.
Japanese construction service company PT Itochu
BHP Billiton is reported to be canceling all coal investment
plans in
The company
already scrapped plans to develop the Haju block, which is part of the Maruwai
project under PT Lahai Coal, Diananjaya was quoted as saying by Investor Daily.
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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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