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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, 27 October 14
CFR SOUTH CHINA COAL SWAPS PERFORMED POSITIVE THIS PAST WEEK
COALspot.com: API 8 CFR South China Coal swap for Q4’ 2014 delivery decreased US$ 1.68 (-2.55%) month over month and increased US$ 0.87 (+1.3 ...
Sunday, 26 October 14
CAPE'S STRONG PERFORMANCE PUSHES BDI INDEX UPWARDS
COALspot.com: The BDI was up by 26.27 pct and closed at 1192 points week and week. The Cape size performance has pushed up BDI and Cape size index ...
Friday, 24 October 14
WEEKLY U.S COAL PRODUCTION DOWN 2.7% FOR THE WEEK ENDING OCTOBER 18
COALspot.com – United States the world's one of largest coal producers, produced approximately 18.7 million short tons (mmst) of coal in ...
Thursday, 23 October 14
THE BEARS, HOWEVER, STILL CRY; FOR HOW LONG WILL IT LAST? - FEARNLEYS
Handy
"We experience a typical oversupply of ships in the Atlantic which causing rates to slide. In the USG it is just enough cargoes to kee ...
Wednesday, 22 October 14
MARKET INSIGHT - THEODORE NTALAKOS, INTERMODAL
ECO designs - revisited
The ECO vessels are already here but the oil and bunker prices are plummeting to their cheapest level since 2010. Is this ...
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- GMR Energy Limited - India
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Planning Commission, India
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- White Energy Company Limited
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Australian Coal Association
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- PTC India Limited - India
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- MS Steel International - UAE
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- The University of Queensland
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
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