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AKARTA: Publicly listed oil and gas services provider PT Radiant Utama Interinsco (RUIS) plans to sell bonds or take out a bank loan to raise Rp 700 billion (US$72.1 million) to fund its business expansion this year.

RUIS corporate secretary Misyal A. Bahwal said in Jakarta on Friday that the funds would be allocated to several projects, such as the construction of micro-hydro power plants (PLTMH) and a geothermal power plant (PLTP).

'There are three PLTMH projects in West Sumatra and one PLTP project in North Sumatra,' he said as quoted by kontan.co.id

The company also plans to drill an oil and gas exploration well in the South West Bukit Barisan block, located in the border area between West Sumatra and Riau, where it has a 51 percent working interest, at a cost of Rp 38.8 billion.

RUIS will start the exploration of the block soon as it has already drawn up the work program and budget plan with oil regulatory body SKKMigas since last year. The company has also previously conducted seismic surveys, from which it found that the block holds 45 million barrels of oil and 87 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas.

'We hope that we can find a financier soon, so that the drilling can be started by early next year,' Misyal said.

In addition to the drilling project, RUIS has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with state-owned electricity firm PT PLN to develop PLTMH Gumanti-3 with a power capacity of 6.5 megawatts in West Sumatra, for which the company is still acquiring the land. The agreed price of the PPA is Rp 787.2 per kilowatt hour (kwh), which could still change based on the base electricity tariff (TDL).

'We've allocated $11 million for this project and we expect that the electricity could be distributed in two years,' Misyal added.

RUIS is still waiting for the PPA for its PLTMH Gumanti -1 with a power capacity of 4 megawatts worth $2 million. The company is carrying out a feasibility study for the development of PLTMH Gumanti-2.