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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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Monday, 17 November 14
SKULD ISSUES URGENT NOTICE ON BANKRUPTCY OF OW BUNKER A/S
Further to the Association’s advices of 7 November 2014, more information has come to light with respect to the potential impact and scale of ...
Monday, 17 November 14
INDONESIAN COAL PRICE REFERENCE CONTINUES FREE FALL; SLUMPS TO 69-MONTH LOW
COALspot.com - The Ministry of Energy & Mineral Resources of Indonesia revised down the coal bench mark price once again in November. HBA for t ...
Monday, 17 November 14
API 5 FOB NEWCASTLE COAL SWAP FOR Q1' 15 DELIVERY CLOSED AT $ 52.75
COALspot.com: API 5 FOB Newcastle Coal swap for Q1’ 2015 delivery has decreased US$ 1.77 (-3.25%) month over month and US$ 0.02 (-0.04%) day ...
Monday, 17 November 14
SOUTH CHINA COAL SWAP SLIGHTLY INCREASED WEEK OVER WEEK
COALspot.com: API 8 CFR South China Coal swap for Q1’ 2015 delivery has decreased US$ 1.73 (-2.67%) month over month and US$ 0.10 (-0.16%) da ...
Sunday, 16 November 14
THE BDI LOST 12.59% WEEK ON WEEK; THE BCI LOST 19.95%
COALspot.com: The BDI fell 12.59 percent to 1256 point week on week on Friday 14 November. All the segments were also most down this week. The cape ...
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- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- MS Steel International - UAE
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- White Energy Company Limited
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- The University of Queensland
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Australian Coal Association
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Planning Commission, India
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- PTC India Limited - India
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
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