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, 15 May 10
THE AVERAGE CHARTER HIRE FOR CAPE REACHES US$ 49,931 PER DAY - VISTAAR SINGAPORE
COALspot.com: "The freight market was extremely buoyant this week with BDI almost up by 9 pct and the market was very firm in Feast/SE Asia sec ...
Saturday, 15 May 10
DRY BULK MARKET POSTS HEALTHY WEEKLY GAINS
The dry bulk market has reached new highs this week, the second consecutive solid one, with the industry’s benchmark, the Baltic Dry Index (BD ...
Friday, 14 May 10
JSW BUYS COAL MINES IN US, PRODUCTION STARTS IN SEPT
JSW Steel on Friday said it has completed $100 million acquisition of coking coal assets in the US and will start production from September to parti ...
Friday, 14 May 10
KANGAROO RESOURCES TO ACQUIRE INDONESIAN COAL PROJECTS - PROACTIVE INVESTORS
Proactive Investors reported that, Kangaroo Resources (ASX: KRL) is preparing to complete the acquisition of its five outstanding Indonesian coal pr ...
Thursday, 13 May 10
CHINA CONCERNS TO TEST RAW MINERALS - THE AUSTRALIAN
The Australian reported that, COMMODITY prices will remain volatile and drop from recent highs as China's appetite for raw materials softens. James ...
|
|
|
Showing 5836 to 5840 news of total 6871 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
 |
|
|
| |
|
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- Parliament of New Zealand
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- White Energy Company Limited
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Planning Commission, India
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Australian Coal Association
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- MS Steel International - UAE
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Minerals Council of Australia
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- The University of Queensland
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- PTC India Limited - India
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
|
| |
| |
|
