JP/13/PTBA
PTBA to boost coal output next year
The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
State coal mining firm PT Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam (PTBA) expects a significant boost in its coal output starting in 2005, pending the successful acquisition of several coal mining firms.
PTBA president Ismet Harmaini said that while the firm was eyeing a number of potential companies to be acquired, it was currently finalizing the acquisition of a coal mining firm in Kalimantan.
That deal alone, scheduled for completion early in 2005, could boost PTBA's coal output by about 20 percent, he said in his presentation paper at an energy conference on Tuesday.
"It would immediately provide an additional production output of about 20 percent," Ismet said, without mentioning the targeted company.
The publicly listed firm expects to produce 9.9 million tons of coal this year, lower than the 10.03 million tons produced last year due in part to problems in the railway transportation system.
The coal producer, the fifth largest in the country, has said that the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) scheme was aimed at boosting output and meeting rising demand, both from the domestic market or exports.
At present, the company exports more than 1 million tons of coal per year to Taiwan, Malaysia and Spain.
But, the bulk of its production is for the domestic market. It supplies about 6.1 million of tons of coal per year to coal-fired Suralaya power plant, and about 1.2 million to coal-fired Bukit Asam power plant.
Domestic coal demand for power generation alone would likely reach about 35 million tons in 2010, as compared to about 22 million tons this year, according to the paper.
Elsewhere, the company also said that it was pushing ahead with its plans to improve the railway facilities in Sumatra, scheduled to start next year, to boost existing capacity.
PTBA is faced with problems in delivering about 7 million tons of coal per year from Tanjung Enim mine in South Sumatra to Tarahan port, and about 1.5 million tons to Kertapati port. When completed in 2007, the $200 million program would enable the firm to jack up the railway capacity to 12.5 million tons per year and 2.5 million tons.
The projects will be conducted jointly with State Railway Company PT KAI.
Another major project that the company is pushing ahead with is a plan to build a 2 x 100 megawatt coal-fired power plant with PT Indonesia Power in Banjarsari, South Sumatra, and another coal-fired power plant with the same company in Pranap, Riau, which will have a capacity of 2 x 250 megawatts.
At a combined cost of $709.9 million, Banjarsari and Pranap power plants are scheduled for commissioning in 2008 and 2009, respectively.
PTBA has coal resources of about 7.3 billion tons -- or about 17 percent of the country's total coal deposits -- with total mineable reserves of 1.5 billion tons.