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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, 20 October 10
CANADIAN CHALLENGER ACQUIRES INDONESIAN COAL PROJECT
COALspot.com (Press Release): According to Challenger Deep Resources Corp's website and press release posted on the site, Challenger Deep Res ...
Wednesday, 20 October 10
ADANI THE LARGEST COAL IMPORTER OF INDIA IS NEGOTIATING WITH COAL INDIA LIMITED FOR A SUPPLY AGREEMENT - TOP NEWS
Top News reported that, negotitations are very much on between Adani Enterprises, the biggest coal importer of the country and Coal India Limited, t ...
Wednesday, 20 October 10
UAE FIRM IN INDONESIA RAIL DEAL - GULF NEWS
Gulf News reported that, construction of a 140-kilometre railway in Indonesia, initiated by RAK Minerals and Metals Investments (RMMI) will start ne ...
Wednesday, 20 October 10
CAPESIZES FINDING SUPPORT IN IRON ORE DEMAND - NIKOS ROUSSANOGLOU, HELLENIC SHIPPING
Although the beginning of the week wasn’t the rosiest one for the dry bulk market, last week proved a cheerful one for dry bulk ship owners, e ...
Saturday, 16 October 10
BDI WAS MARGINALLY UP BY 2.45 PCT LAST WEEK - VISTAAR SHIPPING
COALspot.com: The BDI seemed to lose the moment compared to last week and was marginally by 2.45 pct and closed at 2,762 points.
Also the Cape in ...
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- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
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- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Australian Coal Association
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Parliament of New Zealand
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- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
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- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
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- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
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- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
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- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Aditya Birla Group - India
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- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
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- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- PTC India Limited - India
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- MS Steel International - UAE
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- White Energy Company Limited
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Planning Commission, India
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- The University of Queensland
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
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