Bukit Asam Allocates USD 456 Million Capex for CY19

PT Bukit Asam, (PTBA) an Indonesian state-owned coal miner, said it had set aside as much as 6.5 Trillion Indonesian Rupiah equivalent to USD 456.66 Million as capital expenditure this year as the company is flexing its muscles to finance various projects including exploration and coal transportation system this year, according to a company official.

The company had spend 5.5 Trillion Indonesian Rupiah as capital expenditure in 2018.

The company would use the funds this year to finance various projects including exploration activities and the improvement of coal railway transportation system that link its mining site in Tanjung Enim and Tarahan port, said Septyo Cholidie, an investor relation manager at the company confirming to a report first carried by Katadata newspaper earlier in the day.

Tanjung Enim is the main coal mining site of Bukit Asam and Tarahan is a port in the Southern part of Sumatra island. Both cities are located in Sumatra island.

Septyo said an improvement in the company’s railway transportation system was meant to increase the company’s coal sales in the coming years. Even so, Bukit Asam set its coal production target at 27.3 MnT this year, slightly higher than 25 MnT it had estimated to produce in 2018, he added.

Katadata reported last week that Bukit Asam, Pertamina & Air Product Inc. had agreed to set a joint-venture plant to produce Dimethyl Ether (DME), a product that can offer cheap and clean energy. The plant, which will have a capacity to produce 1.4 MnT DME per year, located in Riau, in Sumatra island, Katadata reported.

Arviyan Arifin, president director of Bukit Asam said that the plant was expected to start its commercial operation in 2020. Bukit Asam was not conducting a feasibility study of the plant and was discussing the proportion of stake by the three partners and its total investment.

Bukit Asam is now a unit of PT Inalum, the mining holding of four state companies. While PT Pertamina is state oil and energy company with its main job being distribution of the fuel in Indonesia.