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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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Friday, 14 August 15
CONDITIONS AND COMPLEXITIES IN A TRIPARTITE AGREEMENT: BE SPECIFIC! - INCE & CO
KNOWLEDGE TO ELEVATE
A tripartite agreement reached between the Owners, the Shippers and the Receivers provided that demurrage be paid to the ...
Thursday, 13 August 15
THE RATES FOR CAPES KEPT RALLYING LAST WEEK - INTERMODAL
COALspot.com: Strong Capesize performance kept supporting the Dry Bulk market last week, which noted another positive weekly closing, while rates f ...
Thursday, 13 August 15
FOB RICHARDS BAY COAL SWAPS CONTINUE FALLING
COALspot.com: API4 FOB Richards Bay Coal swap for delivery 4Q' 2015 declined month over month and week over week.
The 4Q swap was down US$ ...
Wednesday, 12 August 15
DRY BULK MARKET: WITHOUT A DOUBT REACHED HEALTHIER LEVEL
A few weeks before the end of the summer season, the BDI is hovering around 1,200 points, providing some much needed optimism to all Dry Bulk marke ...
Wednesday, 12 August 15
REGULATION CURBS POWER OF LOCAL AUTHORITIES IN MINING SECTOR IN INDONESIA - FLORENCE G. SANTOSO
The Indonesian Government appears to be getting serious about stripping Regents of the authority to issue mining licenses. The Government took the ...
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- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- White Energy Company Limited
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Planning Commission, India
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- PTC India Limited - India
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Australian Coal Association
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- The University of Queensland
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- MS Steel International - UAE
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
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