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.
|
|
Wednesday, 13 May 15
MARKET INSIGHT - KONSTANTINOS KONTOMICHIS
The EU governments in an effort to face their economic crisis individually are facing lack of political cohesion. This reflects back to each econom ...
Tuesday, 12 May 15
FOB INDONESIA COAL SWAP; DECLINED M-O-M AND W-O-W
COALspot.com: Indonesian coal swap for delivery Q3 2015 lost week over week and month on month, this past week.
The Q3 swap was declined US$ 0 ...
Tuesday, 12 May 15
FOB RICHARDS BAY COAL SWAPS: LOST W-O-W; GAIN M-O-M
COALspot.com: API4 FOB Richards Bay Coal swap for delivery Q3' 2015 increased month over month and decreased week over week.
The Q3 swap h ...
Monday, 11 May 15
DRY BULK CARRIER ORDERS CRASH TO A TWENTY YEAR LOW - CLARKSONS
In the last four months dry bulk orders have fallen to 0.4m dwt per month, the lowest level since the 1990s. This is a massive 98% reduction from t ...
Monday, 11 May 15
HBA PRICE DIPS FURTHER; LOWEST RECORDED SINCE JANUARY 2009
COALspot.com - The Ministry of Energy & Mineral Resources of Indonesia revised down Indonesian coal benchmark prices to US$ 61.08 per MT in May ...
|
|
|
Showing 3026 to 3030 news of total 6871 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
 |
|
|
| |
|
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- Planning Commission, India
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- White Energy Company Limited
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- The University of Queensland
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- MS Steel International - UAE
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- PTC India Limited - India
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Australian Coal Association
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
|
| |
| |
|
