PGN plans bond issue next year<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
State-owned gas utility company PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN)
\nplans to issue up to Rp 1.5 trillion (US$166 million) in bonds in
\nthe first quarter of next year to help finance its pipeline
\nproject linking gas-rich South Sumatra with the heavily populated
\nWest Java and Banten provinces.<\/p>\n
PGN finance director Joko Pramono said the gas pipeline would
\ncost around $188 million, of which some $80 million had been
\nsecured via a World Bank loan.<\/p>\n
\"We are seeking to issue between Rp 1 trillion and Rp 1.5
\ntrillion in bonds in the first quarter of next year to finance
\nthe pipeline project to link cities in South Sumatra with those
\nin West Java and Banten,\" said Joko during a ceremony on Monday.<\/p>\n
Joko said that once the South Sumatra-West Java transmission
\npipeline was completed in 2006 or 2007, many industrial
\nundertakings in West Java and Banten, the main industrial regions
\nof the country, were expected to switch from oil to gas.<\/p>\n
Currently, publicly listed PGN, which has a monopoly over the
\ncountry's gas distribution, only serves six cities -- Medan,
\nPalembang, Jakarta, Bogor, Cirebon and Surabaya.<\/p>\n
It plans to boost gas supplies to Surabaya, the country's
\nsecond largest city, from various fields offshore East Java, and
\nto cities in North Sumatra from gas fields in Riau.<\/p>\n
The company has said it expects to double its profit by 2007
\nas gas sales will increase to 650 million cubic feet a day from
\n280 million currently, as more people and undertakings turned to
\ngas as it was cheaper than oil.<\/p>\n
For the first nine months ending September, PGN's net profit
\nfell 49 percent to Rp 263.9 billion, down from Rp 522.2 billion
\nin the same period last year. The fall was due to foreign
\nexchange losses and interest on the company's debts.<\/p>\n
The company reported a foreign exchange loss of Rp 227.9
\nbillion compared to a gain of Rp 78.5 billion. The cost of
\ninterest increased more than threefold to Rp 295.7 billion during
\nthe period compared to Rp 84.3 billion in the same nine month
\nperiod the year before.<\/p>\n
PGN's long-term debt stood at Rp 6.09 trillion at the end of
\nSeptember, up from Rp 3.87 trillion a year earlier.<\/p>\n
The company's shares ended Rp 25 lower at Rp 1,350 on the
\nJakarta Stock Exchange on Monday.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/pgn-plans-bond-issue-next-year-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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