We welcome article submissions from experts in the areas of coal, mining,
shipping, etc.
To Submit your article please click here.
|
|
|
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)
If you believe an article violates your rights or the rights of others, please contact us.
|
|
Saturday, 25 September 10
INDONESIA HAS EXPORTED 187.656 MILLION TONNES OF COAL IN EIGHT MONTHS
COALspot.com: Indonesia, the world largest coal exporter has exported 187.656 million tons of coal for the period January – August this ...
Saturday, 25 September 10
PRESSURE ON S6 AND S7 ROUTES SEEMS TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK CAPT. REDDY
COALspot.com: The freight market has been flat this week due to holidays in China and low activity saw all sectors down and soft.
The BDI was dow ...
Thursday, 23 September 10
CHURCHILL MINING SHARES JUMP ON EAST KUTAI COAL PROJECT FEASIBILITY RESULTS - STOCKOPEDIA
AIM listed mining group Churchill Mining (LON:CHL) and its Indonesian partners the Ridlatama Group, have completed a feasibility study on the 2.73bn ...
Thursday, 23 September 10
DRY BULK RATES EXPECTEDLY FALL TO ONE MONTH LOWS - HELLENIC SHIPPING
With of the Far East trade routes closed this week on various national holidays, demand for ocean transportation of raw materials has been significa ...
Wednesday, 22 September 10
INDIA TO BE BIGGEST BUYER OF INDONESIAN COAL BY 2011 - BUSINESS STANDARD
India will pass Japan to be the biggest buyer of Indonesian coal by 2011, said Bob Kamandanu, chairman of the Indonesian Coal Mining Association.
...
|
|
|
Showing 5596 to 5600 news of total 6871 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
 |
|
|
| |
|
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- White Energy Company Limited
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Planning Commission, India
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- The University of Queensland
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Australian Coal Association
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- MS Steel International - UAE
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- PTC India Limited - India
|
| |
| |
|
