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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, 10 April 15
US COAL PRODUCTION FELL 4.7% W-O-W : EIA
COALspot.com – United States the second largest coal producer in the world has produced approximately totaled an estimated 17.4 million short ...
Friday, 10 April 15
DRY BULK MARKET'S DOWNFALL ALSO OFFER INVESTMENT BARGAINS - NIKOS ROUSSANOGLOU, HELLENIC SHIPPING NEWS
Dry bulk market rates have fallen to historical lows over the past few weeks, with no clear path of recovery, at least in the near term. As such, m ...
Thursday, 09 April 15
CAPESIZE: RATES ARE STILL DISAPPOINTING - FEARNLEYS
Handy
The handy market had a stronger sentiment before the Easter holidays, but have as the bigger panamaxes seen a softening tendency this week. ...
Wednesday, 08 April 15
DRY BULK MARKET SEEMS UNABLE TO CATCH A BREAK - INTERMODAL
COALspot.com: The Dry Bulk market seems unable to catch a break these days.
According to Intermodal, following the market stabilization that p ...
Wednesday, 08 April 15
CHINA BURNS HALF OF THE WORLD'S COAL - CHRISTOPHER T. WHITTY
Intermodal Weekly Market Update
China is the world's largest consumer of coal, using more coal each year than the United States, the Europ ...
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- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Economic Council, Georgia
- PTC India Limited - India
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- White Energy Company Limited
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Planning Commission, India
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Australian Coal Association
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- MS Steel International - UAE
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- The University of Queensland
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
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