Latest news with #SouthSumatra
CTV News
17 hours ago
- CTV News
Indonesian police arrest 44 people suspected of starting forest fires
A police officer sprays water in an attempt to extinguish a fire that razes through a peatland field in Ogan Ilir, South Sumatra, Indonesia, Sunday, July 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Muhammad Hatta) JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesian authorities arrested 44 people suspected of starting some of the forest and peatland fires that are spreading health-damaging haze in the region, officials said Wednesday. Forest and peat fires are an annual problem in Indonesia that strain relations with neighbouring countries. In recent years, smoke from the fires has blanketed parts of Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and southern Thailand. The fires are often started illegally by plantation owners or traditional farmers to clear land for planting, said Suharyanto, who heads the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, or BNPB, in a statement on Wednesday. 'The forest fires are not caused only by drought, but also by humans,' said Suharyanto, who like many Indonesians uses only a single name. 'Hopefully these arrests will serve as a deterrent to the public to stop setting fires to clear land.' Police on Tuesday presented the suspects, including a woman, at the news conference in Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau province. They were handcuffed and wearing orange prison uniforms. Those arrested could be prosecuted under an environmental protection law that provides for a maximum 10-year prison sentence for setting fires to clear land, Suharyanto said. He urged people to be pro-active in the government campaign to stop human-caused blazes and report anyone setting fires to clear land. A number of areas in Riau province were still covered by thick haze, where Rokan Hilir and Rokan Hulu districts were the worst hit areas by fires that burned about 500 hectares (1,235 acres), resulting in heavy haze that reduced visibility to less than one kilometre (less than half a mile). The government has stepped up its fire responses by spreading tons of salt on clouds to induce artificial rain in Riau since Tuesday, which will continue until July 25, Suharyanto said. Tuesday's arrests were not the first. In 2019 Indonesian police arrested 230 people linked to forest fires. Forest fires on Sumatra and Borneo islands often break out during dry spells, smothering parts of nearby Singapore and Malaysia in haze. In 2023, Indonesia which often sends apologies to its neighbors over the haze, denied that its fires were blanketing Malaysia with pollution. Niniek Karmini, The Associated Press
Forbes
15-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Indonesian Billionaire Prajogo Pangestu's Petrosea Bags $214 Million Mining Contract From Sinar Mas Group
Barasentosa Lestari coal concession in South Sumatra. Petrosea—a provider of mining engineering services backed by Indonesian billionaire Prajogo Pangestu—said it won a 3.5 trillion rupiah ($214 million) contract from a coal company controlled by the Widjaja family's Sinar Mas Group. Under the five year contract, Petrosea will become the mining services contractor for Barasentosa Lestari's coal mine in the North Musi Rawas Regency, around 600 kilometers north west of Jakarta for the next five years, according to an announcement on Tuesday. 'This contract is part of Petrosea's long-term strategy to increase value creation through business expansion and business development to the South Sumatra area,' Iman Darus Hikhman, mining director of Petrosea, said in the statement. Barasentosa Lestari, a subsidiary of Golden Energy and Resources, holds a concession of over 23,000 hectares and nearly 190 million tonnes of coal reserves. Golden Energy, which delisted from the Singapore Exchange in 2023, acquired Barasentosa in 2018 for $65 million from Amsterdam-based GMR Energy and GMR Infrastructure. Petrosea has been deepening its partnerships in the mining industry. In April, it won a 16 trillion rupiah ($954 million) contract from the Indonesian unit of Brazilian miner Vale. With a real-time net worth of $31.2 billion, Pangestu ranks among Indonesia's wealthiest individuals. He holds stakes in coal mining company Petrindo Jaya Kreasi, the biggest shareholder Petrosea, as well as in Barito Renewables—both of which went public in 2023. Meanwhile, Prajogo's partner in the deal, the Widjaja family, has a net worth of $18.9 billion. Beyond mining, their Sinar Mas Group has business interests in real estate, paper production, financial services, telecommunications, and agribusiness.
Forbes
27-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Tycoon Hilmi Panigoro-Backed Medco Energi To Buy Repsol's Indonesian Gas Field Stake For $425 Million
The exhibit by Medco Energi International Tbk at the Indonesia Petroleum Association (IPA) ... More Convention in Tanggerang, Banten, Indonesia, on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. Photographer: Dimas Ardian/Bloomberg Medco Energi Internasional—backed by tycoon Hilmi Panigoro and his family—has agreed to buy Spanish energy giant Repsol's 24% stake in the Corridor Block for $425 million, giving it a controlling interest in Indonesia's third-largest gas field. Once the transaction is completed in the third quarter of this year, Medco's stake in the Corridor Block will increase to 70%, while Indonesian state-run Pertamina Hulu Energi Corridor will hold the rest, the Jakarta-listed company said in a statement on Thursday. "This acquisition supports our strategy of owning and developing high-quality, cash-generative assets and reaffirms our commitment to national development where natural gas is a vital bridge to a lower-carbon future,' Hilmi Panigoro, president director of Medco Energi said in the statement. Located in South Sumatra, the Corridor Block—comprising seven gas fields and an oil field—produced 58,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day last year. It has long-term contracts with customers in Indonesia and Singapore. Medco Energi has been scaling up its oil and gas assets. Last year, it produced over 124,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, according to its latest annual report. With a net worth of $3.25 billion, Panigoro and his family are among the wealthiest in Indonesia. Medco Energi, which was founded in 1980 by his late brother Arifin, teamed up with billionaire Agoes Projosasmito in 2016 to buy Amman Mineral for $2.6 billion. The mining firm went public in 2023, raising $710 million from its IPO.
