PGN'S CAPITAL EXPENDITURE REACHES US$200 MILLION

Jakarta, April 13 (ANTARA) - State-owned gas distributor company (PGN) hoped its capital expenditure would increase to US$200 million in 2009 from US$150 million a year earlier, its financial director Riza Phalevi Tabrani said.

"Half of the US$200 million or US$100 would be used to develop pipeline distribution networks while the remaining US$100 would be used to increase the capacity of PGN's subsidiaries," he said here on Sunday.
Tabrani said that most of the capital expenditure funds or US$115 million, would be obtained from the company's internal sources while the remaining US$85 million from the World Bank.
He said that PGN's projects in 2009 included the development of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal in West Java.
The construction of the receiving terminal is urgent to help overcome the LNG supply problem in the region which needed a supply of about three million tons while the supply capacity at present is only about 1.5 million tons.
Tabrani said that the completion of some of the South Sumatra-West Java project (SSWJ) in 2008 had helped increase the company's cash flow.
"The cash flow of the company at the end of last year reached US$300 million," he said.
According to Tabrani, PGN has set itself a gas sales target of about 700-800 million metric standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD)in 2009, higher than last year which stood at 600 mmscfd