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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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Friday, 10 June 11
DRY BULK ON RETREAT MODE - NIKOS ROUSSANOGLOU, HELLENIC SHIPPING
This week has offered dry bulk ship owners no real reason to smile, as the industry’s benchmarket, the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) has been steadil ...
Thursday, 09 June 11
INDIKA AIMS TO PRODUCE 31 MILLION TONS OF COAL IN 2011 - THE JAKARTA POST
The Jakarta Post, a leading English news paper in Indonesia reported that, PT Indika Energy Tbk, an integrated energy company, is targeting to incre ...
Wednesday, 08 June 11
BAYAN TO DISTRIBUTE RP. 80 ( APPROX. US$ 0.00939850) PER SHARE DIVIDEND
Coal miner PT Bayan Resources Tbk (BYAN), that is controlled by business Dato' Low Tuck Kwong, will distribute Rp80 a share dividend or Rp266.7 bil ...
Wednesday, 08 June 11
CBM PRODUCTION FROM AUSTRALIA, CHINA, INDIA, AND INDONESIA IS EXPECTED TO WITNESS A SIGNIFICANT INCREASE BY 2015
Press Release - According to Global Data (December 2010), CBM production in Australia, China, India, and Indonesia is expected to witness a signific ...
Sunday, 05 June 11
COAL IMPORTS BY CHINA IS LIKELY TO INCREASE - VISTAAR SINGAPORE
COALspot.com - The freight market softened this week except for the BDI and Cape index was up, but even in these sectors the momentum was compared t ...
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- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Planning Commission, India
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- MS Steel International - UAE
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- White Energy Company Limited
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- The University of Queensland
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- VISA Power Limited - India
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- PTC India Limited - India
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Australian Coal Association
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
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