PGN expects lower profit

JAKARTA (JP): State-owned gas company PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN) estimates a 29 percent decrease in its net profits to Rp 287 billion (US$31.9 million) this year from Rp 407 billion in 1999.

PGN president Qoyum Tjandranegara said on Monday that the decrease was caused by loan repayments and an increase in the purchasing price of gas.

However, he said the company's contribution to the state coffers in the form of taxes or dividends would increase by 14 percent to Rp 312.7 billion this year from Rp 274 billion in the previous year.

The company has sold 548 million cubic feet a day this year, with a value of almost Rp 2 trillion ($222.2 million), or up 8.7 percent from the previous year, Qoyum said in a hearing with the House of Representatives Commission VIII for environmental, science and technology affairs.

Qoyum said the company was undergoing a project to add about 430 million cubic feet of gas to PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia. The additional volume was expected to give PGN a net profit of Rp 488 billion in 2002, he said. (tnt)