ITM secures fuel supply by acquiring PTGE

By Tri Subhki R

Petromindo|Lucky

IDX-listed coal mining company PT Indo Tambangraya Megah Tbk (ITM) aims to secure fuel supply for its mining operations by acquiring 75 percent stake of fuel distributor company, PT GasEmas (PTGE). The company also wants to reduce operating cost and generates revenue from selling fuel to third parties.

?PTGE owns fuel import license. We lease mother vessel to Singapore to buy fuel from oil refineries and then transport the fuel to all our mines,? ITM?s Finance Director Yulius Kurniawan Gozali said on Tuesday.

Yulius stated that the combined diesel fuel consumption of all ITM mines is approximately 36,000 kiloliters (KL) per month or representing 21 percent of total operating costs. By acquiring PTGE, ITM expects overall fuel cost reduction of approximately 5 percent.

ITM leases a 125,000 KL capacity vessel to transport diesel fuel and has bought 45,000 KL of diesel fuel for internal use. ?In the future, we may expand the fuel import for internal use and sell to third party,? Yulius said.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak