The coal gasification project of PT. Bukit Asam will produce 1.4 million tons per year. The gasification is sourced from low-calorie coal from the Bukit Asam Tanjung Enim mine. This was revealed on Monday (10/1/22), Minister of Investment/Head of BKPM of the Republic of Indonesia (RI) Bahlil Lahadalia accompanied by the Governor of South Sumatra, Herman Deru from Hotel Santika Premiere Palembang, held a meeting via virtual zoom meeting with the Board of Directors of PT Bukit Asam Tbk (PTBA) and PT Pertamina.

PTBA president director Arsal Ismail said the coal gasification project is processing coal into syngas which is then converted into methanol and ultimately processed into Dimethyl Ether (DME) as the final product.

"The DME that will be produced from this project is planned to be 1.4 million tons per year. This DME will be used by Pertamina later as a substitute for LPG," he said.

Furthermore, President Director Arsal said that this synergy is expected to be one of the steps to suppress LPG imports.

Every night, 50-100 trucks go to deliver coal to buyers, whether to textile, garment, light brick, or iron factories, 90% of which are located on the island of Java. On average there are 600 sacks of coal per truck. Each sack, weighing approximately 40 kilograms, is valued at IDR 10,000. That is, the price of each tonne of coal is IDR 250,000.

In comparison, the reference coal price (HBA) throughout 2021 continued to increase to touch US$161.63 (Rp2.3 million) per tonne in October from only US$75.84 in January.

The HBA is determined once a month by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) and is used as a benchmark for direct coal sales for free on board.

With the calculation above, the daily turnover of the people's mining in Muara Enim can reach Rp. 600 million per day. From year to year, the velocity of this money continues to increase and more and more people depend on coal for their lives.

For the people's mining players, care about demons with illegal status. The government has been diligent in boasting about the large coal reserves on the island of Sumatra and its contribution to state revenues.

Companies in Muara Enim, especially PTBA which is like a king there, also continue to make profits from coal while showing off the various social responsibility programs that they have carried out.

Coal at that time became a prima donna commodity because it was widely used as fuel for vehicles and steam-engined factories in Europe, following the Industrial Revolution since the 18th century. Because of this, the popularity of black stone continues to soar until it beats spices, which were previously the main target of the colonialists in the archipelago.

In fact, because of the huge potential of coal in Sumatra, the phrase "Molukken is het verleden, Java is het heden, en Sumatra is de toekomst" appeared. Maluku is the past, Java is the present, and Sumatra is the future.

When it first became a limited liability company in 1981, the exploitation area of ​​PTBA was only 7,700 hectares. By the end of 2020, mining business permits (IUP) held by the company for operating and production activities had touched 93,528 hectares, including around 66,000 hectares in two districts in South Sumatra: Muara Enim and Lahat.

Throughout 1981, PTBA's coal production was only around 50 thousand tons. In 2020, its production is 24.8 million tons. It is nothing compared to the total coal reserves and resources controlled by the company; respectively 3.2 billion tons and 8.6 billion tons. If the company maintains production figures like 2020 alone, its charcoal reserves will only run out after 128 years.

For comparison, the entire coal reserves in Sumatra reached 12.96 billion tons, while the resources were 55.08 billion tons. It is still inferior to Kalimantan, whose reserves and resources reach 25.84 billion tons and 88.31 billion tons, according to data from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.

The two islands are indeed Indonesia's dirty energy barns. All of Indonesia's coal supply comes from the two islands, which are becoming increasingly damaged.