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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, 21 December 10
CHINA COAL CAP TO BOOST GLOBAL M&A - FINANCIER WORLD WIDE
Financier World Wide reported that, Chinese state-run media has reported that the Central Government intends to cap domestic coal production for fea ...
Tuesday, 21 December 10
CIL TOLD TO SCOUT MINES ABROAD TO BRIDGE COAL DEFICIT - ECONOMIC TIMES
Economic Times reported that, The government asked state-owned CIL to look for acquiring assets abroad to meet the domestic shortfall of coal.
&q ...
Tuesday, 21 December 10
SHIPPING INDUSTRY RECOVERING, BUT STILL HAMPERED BY OVERSUPPLY OF VESSELS AND DEPRESSED FREIGHT RATES - UNCTAD / HELLENIC SHIPPING
International seaborne trade contracted by 4.5 per cent in 2009, reports UNCTAD´s Review of Maritime Transport 2010 . That decline put seaborn ...
Sunday, 19 December 10
SPOT SUPRAMAX VESSELS WERE FIXED AROUND US$ 13,000 PER DAY FOR TRIP VIA INDONESIA TO INDIA - VISTAAR
COALspot.com - The freight market continued to be soft with the BDI down by 96 points and closed at 1,999 points, touching below 2,000 points on Fri ...
Friday, 17 December 10
THE PANAMAX MARKET HAS EXPERIENCED A SOFTER TENDENCY THIS WEEK - FEARNBULK
Handy
Monotonous Atlantic markets with little fresh enquiry in Black Sea/Med/Continent. Large Supras are achieving usd 21/22k for TA rounds - 2/3 ...
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- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- PTC India Limited - India
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- Economic Council, Georgia
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- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- MS Steel International - UAE
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- The University of Queensland
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Minerals Council of Australia
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Australian Coal Association
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Planning Commission, India
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- White Energy Company Limited
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
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