Java Star set to get refund of import duty

By Romel S. Gurky

SGX-listed KS Energy Limited said that its indirect subsidiary PT Java Star Rig (JSR) is set to recover import duty and fines paid to the Indonesian government last year after the customs court ruled in favor of the company.

As announced by the company in February of 2016, the Indonesian Ministry of Finance?s Directorate General of Customs and Excise issued a notice to JSR to pay import duty and fines for the import of a jack-up drilling rig called Java Star Rig into Indonesia as the import permit issued by the Investment Coordinating Board in 2012 was not in accordance with certain terms of the importation permit and customs duty exemption facility, and therefore not exempted from import duty.

JSR then paid the import duties and fines imposed, and filed an appeal at the Indonesian customs court.

?The company wishes to inform that the Indonesian customs court had on 4 July 2017 issued its decision in writing accepting the appeal filed by PT JSR. The Indonesian customs court found that the importation of the rig was in accordance with the terms of the permit and is therefore exempted from import duty. PT JSR is due to recover the full amount of import duty and fines paid totaling approximately S$20.3 million,? KS Energy said in a statement on Thursday.

The group expects that the recovery of the import duty and fines will have a positive impact on the net result for the full year ending December 31, 2017, based on the preliminary assessment made by the board.

JSR is a joint venture company of KS Drilling, an 80.09 percent-owned subsidiary of KS Energy. KS Drilling is an investment holding company. The main activities of its subsidiaries are in the provision of onshore and offshore drilling services, rig management and support services, oilfield equipment ownership and leasing.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak