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Sunday, 20 June 10
OUR COAL: ITS DEVELOPMENT AND CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES
 Indonesia’s production of coal has been growing amazingly. In the mid 1980s, national coal production was less than 1 million tons per annum, whereas energy planners (in the fourth Five Year Development Plan: 1989-1994) pointed at 10 million tons as the national production target.
The current production has jumped dramatically, recorded as 237 million tons in 2008 (predicted to achieve 270 million tons this year), making Indonesia a world class producer and the largest exporter of coal around the globe. The skyrocketing growth of our coal production has also incited many controversial issues.
Coal is considered as the dirtiest among fossil fuels, making environmentalists oppose their wide use
as fuel.
However, the proposal for ceasing use of coal — power generation, for instance — would be challenged by power utilities demanding low cost fuel that coal may offer and by the government, which has the responsibility to provide electricity as well as have revenue from exploiting its energy resources.
Despite the world’s rising anxiety of global warming, IEA (International Energy Agency: World Energy Outlook 2009) statistics shows that the world consumption for coal, for the last decade, is still growing the fastest among primary energy sources.
The environmental problem associated with coal in Indonesia is not limited to green houses gases (GHG), but also damage and pollution since its exploitation, transportation and uses to post mining.
It is easy to find where many coal fields are not mined appropriately according to “good mining and environmental practices”, coal transportation is not considering safety standards and is damaging rivers, (public) roads and seashores.
The coal mining has polluted the land, water and air of especially Kalimantan, where more than 90 percent of Indonesia’s coal mining operations take place.
It is sad that many of the previous mining areas have been abandoned without being properly reclaimed, whereas thousands of hectares of the island’s tropical forests have been converted into desert.
The soaring exploitation, including its negative impact on the environment, has a strong correlation with the number of licensing/permits awarded.
The introduction of the 1999 Regional Autonomy Law, subsequently followed by the 1999 Fiscal Balancing Law between the Central and Regional Governments have — to some degree — impacted on the coal licensing regime, where larger authorities had been given to regional/local governments.
Under the new licensing regime by local governments, requirements for coal permits tend to be relaxed whereas monitoring has not been done properly.
As a result, the number of permits (Mining Authorization/KP) has been growing considerably (currently 462, of which 169 are producing), coal production increases, but also environmental problems and the issues of illegal mining exist.
The question of who really owns the KP licenses exists, which was defined as that it can be owned by Indonesian national/companies only.
While the largest part of coal in Indonesia are being produced by large companies (the holders of Coal Contract of Work/PKP2B), some coal is mined by small scale and illegal miners.
It is believed that a significant amount of coal has been produced by illegal miners (some 5 million tons annually) and part has gone to meet export demand.
Wherever in the world, illegal miners lack interest in responsible mining and mine rehabilitation practices. Illegal mining is a problem for potential investors, the environment and government revenues.
The government has introduced measures to crack down on problems, including arresting illegal miners.
However, it cannot be the only solution since illegal mining is actually rooted in underemployment, local poverty and weak law enforcement, while the number of people involved in these activities is quite significant.
An alternative to confrontation to illegal miners by the central government (who awards the large scale PKP2B mining license) should be a cooperative and more comprehensive approach.
“Despite the world’s anxiety of global warming, IEA statistics shows that the world consumption for coal is still growing the fastest among primary energy sources.”
Work together with local/rural governments and communities to reduce poverty, educate/assist the illegal miners to increase their awareness on good mining practices (including mine rehabilitation), provide transition period fiscal incentives to encourage illegal mining toward the regulated mining sector, among others.
It needs to maintain an appropriate balance between the soaring exports of coal (about three quarters of production on average) and the domestic growing demand for the same fuel.
Push for exports is still coming largely from the traditional East Asians (Japan is the largest), while the coal-hungry India and China are also increasing their demand for our coal.
The exports will be competed with by the Blue Print for Energy Management 2005-2025 pointing out that one third of Indonesia’s energy primary energy mix in 2025 is to be supplied by coal, (the current share is about 15 percent).
Even though it is often mentioned that our coal reserves are quite large (current proven reserves of 5.5 billion tons; estimated resources of 105 tones) and that our reserves for coal are much larger than that of oil and gas, we should watch their fast rate of exploitation cautiously.
It needs to recalculate the benefit of exploiting them, taking into account their damage to the environment and what is left post mining. Where have all the revenues from exploiting that coal gone? Is the escalating export not jeopardizing the domestic energy security in the near future?
We have ample experiences, for instance in exploiting the resources-rich Kalimantan. The forests, oil and gas reserves have been exploited for about four to five decades, but it seems that the island has not enjoyed the fruits of the excessive exploitation: the current regional economy remains weak, infrastructure is poor and energy supplies for local uses have not been secured.
It needs to promote the terms “resources balance, depletion, sustainability”, start internalizing the costs of environmental impact and enforce those concepts into workable policies for our coal mining development.
The writer is the senior energy planner and an economist with the National Development Planning Agency. The opinions expressed are his own.
Source: The Jakarta Post ( Hanan Nugroho)
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Thursday, 15 September 11
INDIAN GOVT PLANS TO DEVELOP 9 NEW MAJOR PORTS BY 2016 - INVEST MONEY / HELLENIC SHIPPING
The government has announced to make a investment of more than Rs 22,000 crore (approximately US$ 4,623,791,331) to develop nine new major ...
Thursday, 15 September 11
BOTSWANA COAL AND ENERGY CONFERENCE 2011
Press Release - Botswana Coal and Energy Conference 2011 | 29-30 November 2011 | Gaborone. Botswana represents Africa’s exciting new coal and ...
Thursday, 15 September 11
DRY BULK MARKET EDGING FURTHER UP THE SCALE, CLOSING IN ON 2,000 POINTS - NIKOS ROUSSANOGLOU, HELLENIC SHIPPING
The dry bulk market was up once again yesterday, reaching 1,927 points, or 1.375 higher on the day. Thus, it has kept its rising trend established d ...
Wednesday, 14 September 11
INDO STRAITS BAGS 2.4 MILLION TON COAL TRANSPORTATION CONTRACT FROM ARUTMIN
COALspot.com - PT Indo Straits Tbk (PTIS) bagged a contract to tranship about 2.40 million tons of coal over an initial period of 6 months fro ...
Wednesday, 14 September 11
DUTA PERTIWI DISCOVERS COAL RESERVE - INSIDER STORIES
Insider Stories reported that, PT Duta Pertiwi Nusantara Tbk (DPNS) yesterday steeply jumped 24.56% to Rp710 a share after the company discove ...
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- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- White Energy Company Limited
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- PTC India Limited - India
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- MS Steel International - UAE
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Planning Commission, India
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- The University of Queensland
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Australian Coal Association
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- VISA Power Limited - India
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
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