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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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Tuesday, 22 March 11
KRISHNAPATNAM PORT SETS ALL INDIA RECORD FOR COAL DISCHARGING
COALspot.com - "Krishnapatnam Port has set an all India record for discharging 71,587 tons of steam coal in just 24 hrs using the conventional ...
Sunday, 20 March 11
FREIGHT MARKETS COULD SOFTEN NEXT WEEK DUE TO JAPANESE PORTS CLOSURE AND LIBYAN CRISIS - VISTAAR
COALspot.com - The BDI was down by 1.98 pct (closing at 1531 points) mainly due to Cape index which was down by almost 11 pct and closed 1687 points ...
Friday, 18 March 11
FALL IN INDONESIAN COAL EXPORTS IN FEBRUARY 11
COALspot.com - Indonesian coal exports seen a fall of 10.76% during Feb 2011. The world’s largest coal exporter shipped 22.029 MMts of c ...
Thursday, 17 March 11
THE PACIFIC HANDY MARKET IS CURRENTLY STEADY - FEARNBULK
Handy
The Atlantic market is showing signs of recovery and does not seem to be affected by the Japan disaster. The market is very positional and i ...
Tuesday, 15 March 11
COAL PRODUCTION FORECAST TO SURGE ON RISING PRICES - THE JAKARTA GLOBE
The Jakarta Globe reported that, Indonesia’s coal production is forecast to increase by 20 percent this year as coal prices continue to ...
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- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- PTC India Limited - India
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- The University of Queensland
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- White Energy Company Limited
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Planning Commission, India
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Australian Coal Association
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- MS Steel International - UAE
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
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