PLN allocates Rp20.8 trillion for purchase of oil, gas and coal

State-owned electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) has allocated Rp20.8 trillion for the purchase of oil, natural gas and coal in its 2004 budget, Bisnis Indonesia newspaper reported in its Wednesday edition.

PLN’s director of primary energy and power generation Ali Herman said oil will still take a big portion in his company’s spending on primary energy.

“The allocation for oil will be around Rp14 trillion and for coal and gas will be Rp3.4 trillion each,” Ali told Bisnis in Jakarta recently.

Spending on primary energy will be more than half of the PLN’s budget, he said.

Other PLN’s spending items are for geothermal resource, water surface tax and so on.

PLN has assumption prices for primary energy for 2004. It estimated the price for oil will be Rp1,800 per liter, Rp234 per kilogram for coal, Rp330 per kWh for geothermal steam and US$2.5 per MSCFD for gas.

Since the consumption of oil, which is very expensive, is still high, in the medium term PLN will try to increase the usage of gas.

Starting from end of 2005, PLN will double the usage of gas, which is cheaper than oil and environmentally clean, at its power plants, Ali said. (*)