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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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Saturday, 02 October 10
FOUR INDONESIAN COAL FIRMS KEEN TO TIE UP WITH NALCO - SIFY
Sify reported that, Four Indonesian coal companies have shown interest to tie up with public sector National Aluminium Company (Nalco) for its 4 bil ...
Friday, 01 October 10
COAL TRADERS POWER FOREIGN ASSET BUYS - ECONOMIC TIMES
Economic Times reported that, the rush to own coal assets is leading to innovative alliances. are teaming up with utilities like , Reliance Power an ...
Thursday, 30 September 10
LOW CALORIFIC VALUE COAL MAY BE SOLD BELOW COAL REFERENCE PRICE IN INDONESIA
COALspot.com: Indonesia, the world’s largest coal exporter has issued another ministerial decree to regulate the selling price of coal of Indo ...
Thursday, 30 September 10
INITIAL PHASE OF MOATIZE MINING BY EARLY NOVEMBER - ALL AFRICA
All Africa report that, the initial phase of mining coal at Moatize, in the western Mozambican province of Tete, will begin by early November, and t ...
Thursday, 30 September 10
THE PANAMAX CONTINUED ITS DOWNWARD TREND FROM LAST WEEK - FEARNBULK
HANDY
Activity remains slow this week combined with a lack of fresh enquiry and tonnage over-supply in the Atlantic. Indexes are all negative exce ...
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- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- MS Steel International - UAE
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Australian Coal Association
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- PTC India Limited - India
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- The University of Queensland
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Planning Commission, India
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- White Energy Company Limited
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Parliament of New Zealand
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
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