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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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Sunday, 21 June 15
SPOT RATE AVERAGES FOR FREIGHT FROM INDONESIA TO INDIA REMAIN STRONG THIS WEEK
COALspot.com: The freight market was quite firm this week compared to last week. The BDI was up 21% week on week and closed at 779 points. The cape ...
Friday, 19 June 15
U.S. WEEKLY COAL PRODUCTION UP SLIGHTLY COMPARED TO LAST WEEK; CONTINUES TO BE DOWN FROM LAST YEAR
COALspot.com – United States the second largest coal producer in the world has produced approximately totaled an estimated 15.4 million short ...
Friday, 19 June 15
INDONESIA'S COAL-TRAFFICKING PROBLEM REQUIRES IMPARTIAL INQUIRY - JAKARTA GLOBE
Indonesia, the leading supplier to the seaborne thermal coal market, produces 420 million tons of coal per year, according to its official tally.
...
Thursday, 18 June 15
DRY BULK SHIPPING: LOWEST FLEET GROWTH IN 10 YEARS MAY NOT PROVE ENOUGH AS DEMAND IS NOT KEEPING PACE - NIKOS ROUSSANOGLOU, HELLENIC SHIPPING NEWS
The demand side of things in the dry bulk market seems unable to keep pace with even the slightest fleet growth, a sign of the demise that the indu ...
Thursday, 18 June 15
THE FAR EAST HANDYSIZE, HANDYMAX, SUPRAMAX MARKET REMAINED STEADY LAST WEEK - INTERMODAL
COALspot.com: The Dry Bulk market closed off on Friday (last week) noting small gains on the back of stronger performance in the Panamax segment, w ...
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- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- The University of Queensland
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- MS Steel International - UAE
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- PTC India Limited - India
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Australian Coal Association
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Planning Commission, India
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- White Energy Company Limited
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
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