Established in 1980, SBMA is an industrial gas producer company that produces acetylene, oxygen, argon, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and mixed gases.

SBMA supplies gas to IKN and Pertamina

Iwan Sanyoto, Director of Operations at SBMA, said that the company is eyeing projects in the IKN area because the region has a fairly high demand for gas.

"The company will provide gas products and become one of the main suppliers for construction projects at the PT Pertamina refinery," he said, on July 3, 2023.

In an effort to supply gas to IKN and construction projects at the Pertamina refinery, the company recently disbursed investment funds worth IDR 39 billion, of which IDR 18 billion came from Initial Public Offering (IPO) funds for the development of air separation plant (ASP) project unit in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan.

"They also need a lot of gas and we are one of the main suppliers for projects at the refinery. Later we will use nitrogen products to purge the pipes before filling them with oil. Oil is flammable, it must be washed first, so we can prepare the product," Sanyoto said.

However, it is unknown how much demand is needed in IKN or in Pertamina as of now. But, it is known that Pertamina has Refinery Unit V Balikpapan in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan with a land area of 283.56 hectares (Ha).

Gas supply provided from the new factory

In addition, the company also hoped to increase the production of its new factory by 5 times.

"The new factory is expected to contribute an increase in capacity of 50 tons per day or five times the previous production capacity," Sanyoto said.

Sanyoto explained that the successful operation of the new factory with a production capacity exceeding initial expectations will pave the way for new opportunities.

"After the commissioning process runs smoothly, we can operate with a design capacity that exceeds 110%, meaning that the factory can run more efficiently than planned," he said, on June 27, 2023.

In the future, the company will focus on increasing nitrogen and oxygen production to match the increasing market demand.

"The most encouraging thing for investors is that this factory operates with an efficiency of around 60% higher than the previous factory, thus providing a profit margin for us," he said.

Therefore, production capacity and efficiency improvements are the main factors in meeting demand. On the other hand, Sanyoto revealed that the excess production is expected to be able to anticipate increasing demand in the mining, petrochemical and oil & gas industrial sectors.