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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, 05 April 15
FREIGHT RATES UNDER PRESSURE WEEK OVER WEEK
COALspot.com: The Indices fell on all segments and the market seemed to soften this week.
The BDI was almost lost 1.34% week over week and clo ...
Saturday, 04 April 15
BORYEONG POWER OF KOMIPO TO BUY TOTALED 695K MT OF HIGH AND LCV COAL
COALspot.com - Korea Midland Power Co. Ltd. (KOMIPO) is inviting bids from coal producers, marketing companies, or traders to supply of 500000 Metr ...
Friday, 03 April 15
U.S WEEKLY COAL PRODUCTION STAYS FLAT
COALspot.com – United States the second largest coal producer in the world has produced approximately totaled an estimated 18.3 million short ...
Friday, 03 April 15
TOBA BARA'S PANDU SJAHRIR ELECTED AS NEW CHAIRMAN OF THE INDONESIAN COAL MINING ASSOCIATION
COALspot.com: Pandu Sjahrir, the Vice President Director & CFO of the Jakarta-listed PT Toba Bara Sejahtra — a subsidiary of PT Toba Seja ...
Thursday, 02 April 15
GOVERNMENT MUST WORK WITH MINING, NOT AGAINST IT - PANDU SJAHRIR
The Coal Face: The coal price has hit its lowest point in recent memory
My father used to say to me that his children are his biggest inv ...
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- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- MS Steel International - UAE
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Planning Commission, India
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Australian Coal Association
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- PTC India Limited - India
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- White Energy Company Limited
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- The University of Queensland
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
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