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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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Tuesday, 07 October 14
API 8 CFR SOUTH CHINA COAL SWAP HEADED SOUTH
COALspot.com: API 8 CFR South China Coal swap for delivery in November 2014 decreased US$ 1.10 (-1.64%) month over month and US$ 0.25 (-0.38%) ...
Monday, 06 October 14
' COAL-BY-WIRE' FROM SUMATRA TO JAVA - THE JAKARTA POST
Coal from the island of Sumatra accounts for most of Indonesia’s low-grade lignite, a low-quality coal that receives a poor price in internat ...
Monday, 06 October 14
THE IRON ORE SHIPPING BUSINESS IS FACING SOME ROUGH SEAS - EAST ASIA FORUM
The impact of Chinese demand on global iron ore prices is well known. A less acknowledged consequence of China’s emergence is the transformat ...
Sunday, 05 October 14
BALTIC DRY INDEX SLIPS 1.14%; BALTIC PANAMAX INDEX GAINED 9.91% WEEK ON WEEK
COALspot.com: The BDI was down by 1.14 pct and closed at 1037 points this Friday.
The Cape index was down significantly week on week or lost 5 ...
Friday, 03 October 14
U.S. WEEKLY COAL PRODUCTION UP 5.8% TO 19.9 MMST
COALspot.com – United States the world's one of largest coal producers, produced approximately 19.9 million short tons (mmst) of co ...
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- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- Planning Commission, India
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Australian Coal Association
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- VISA Power Limited - India
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- The University of Queensland
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Economic Council, Georgia
- PTC India Limited - India
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- White Energy Company Limited
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- MS Steel International - UAE
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
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