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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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Wednesday, 27 April 11
DRY BULK MARKET LACKS ACTIVITY, RATES KEEP RETREATING - NIKOS ROUSSANOGLOU, HELLENIC SHIPPING
With the Easter Holidays for a large of the world now behind, the dry bulk market kept lacking activity on Tuesday, which led the Baltic Dry Index ( ...
Tuesday, 26 April 11
NTPC CALLS TENDER FOR 4 MLN TON OF NON-COKING COAL
COALspot.com - NTPC Limited, incorporated in 1975 as a public sector company wholly owned by Government of India, is the largest thermal power gener ...
Monday, 25 April 11
THE FUTURES FOR THREE YEARS WAS AT AROUND PANAMAX/US$ 14,000 PER DAY & SUPRAMAX/US$ 14,000 PER DAY - VISTAAR
COALspot.com - The freight market continued to soften further with all segments down except for the handy size which was marginally up by 10 points. ...
Saturday, 23 April 11
GUPTA COAL TO BAG ONE MILLION TONS OF COAL SUPPLY ORDER FROM KPCL AT AROUND US$ 127.53 PMT
COALspot.com - Karnataka Power Corporation (KPCL), a state utility of Karnataka, India has secured its one million tons of thermal coal with c ...
Saturday, 23 April 11
STRAITS ASIA SETS 11.5 MIO TONS OUTPUT - INSIDER STORIES
Insider Stories reported that, Singapore-listed Straits Asia Resources Limited plans to jack up its coal output target of 8.5% to 11.5 million tons ...
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- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- MS Steel International - UAE
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- PTC India Limited - India
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Australian Coal Association
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Planning Commission, India
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- White Energy Company Limited
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- The University of Queensland
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
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