Semen Indonesia, Pertamina tie up to enhance operations
Saturday, April 23 2016 - 04:07 AM WIB
SI President Director Suparni was quoted by the paper as saying that the two companies had yet to sort out the kinks in their agreement but Pertamina had vowed to provide oil for the cement company, which it needed not just for production but also for transportation and logistics.
?[The agreement] is to ensure that the company can increase its operations and also to help in the development of new projects. We operate in many regions and consume a lot of energy so Pertamina may assist us in providing fuel, lubricants or even energy to fuel power plants for our new factories,? he said on the sidelines of the ceremony.
SI is in the middle of constructing two integrated cement factories: one in Rembang, Central Java, and the other in Indarung, West Sumatra. Both factories are expected to have a production capacity of 3 million tons of cement a year.
Furthermore, the company recently agreed to establish .a joint venture with Aceh-based cement company PT Samana Citra Agung. Suparni said that SI planned to establish another factory in Aceh with a production capacity of 3 million tons a year and hoped to complete the Rp 5 trillion project by 2019.
The past year has not been kind to SI as the cement company recently published data showing that its total cement sales stood at 26.45 million tons last year, lower than the industry average. Weak domes-tic cement demands in last year?s first seven months led to 0.7 per-cent contraction year-on-year (yoy) in its domestic sales to 25.97 million tons.
Meanwhile, Pertamina President Director Dwi Soetjipto said that his company had agreed to assist SI in converting the latter?s main energy sources from oil-based fuels to gas.
Pertamina has calculated that SI could gain efficiencies as much as Rp 1 trillion annually if they successfully converted from oil to gas as the use of diesel fuel for transportation trucks rack up Rp 3 trillion a year.
?Around 55 percent of costs in the cement industry is used up on energy. If the total costs rack up to Rp 20 trillion a year then around Rp 10 trillion is used up for? energy. If we can just boost efficiencies by 10 percent with this cooperation then SI can save up to Rp 1 trillion a year,? he said.
Dwi, who was once also the president director of SI, added that Pertamina would help develop geo-thermal potentials for its future factory in Aceh that will have a geothermal-fueled power plant that can produce up to 50 megawatts (MW) of energy.
?[We will assist] in converting [fuel sources] from oil to gas and also develop the use of geothermal potentials in Aceh. So far, the cement industry?s main energy source has been coal, which is not good for the environment. We will help them convert [from coal],? he said.(*)