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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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Wednesday, 02 July 14
THE PANAMAX MARKET CONTINUED TO BLEED FOR ANOTHER WEEK - INTERMODAL
COALspot.com: The Dry Bulk market succumbed to mounting pressure this past week, while the Capesize market proved unable to “save the day&rdq ...
Wednesday, 02 July 14
HANDY BULKERS PROVE TO BE THE MOST SOUGHT AFTER VESSELS OVER THE PAST WEEK - NIKOS ROUSSANOGLOU, HELLENIC SHIPPING NEWS
The Handy dry bulker proved to be the most sought after ship by ship owners active in the second hand market, which saw a slight decline in terms o ...
Wednesday, 02 July 14
SHIPPING: MARKET INSIGHT - GEORGE DERMATIS
After 6 months, 57 ministerial meetings and 67 political agreements, the journey of the Greek Presidency in the EU reached its end yesterday; only ...
Tuesday, 01 July 14
INDIAN POWER PLANT COAL STOCKPILES VERY LOW
COALspot.com: According to today's Weekly Dry Bulk Report published by Commodore Research, Indian power plant coal stockpiles have now fallen t ...
Monday, 30 June 14
SUB-BIT FOB INDONESIA COAL PRICES ARE STILL STRUGGLING TO RECOVER
COALspot.com: Indonesian coal swaps for average Q3’ 2014 lost on week and on month according to AsiaClear OTC coal swap's reports release ...
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- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Planning Commission, India
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- The University of Queensland
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- VISA Power Limited - India
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Australian Coal Association
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- PTC India Limited - India
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- MS Steel International - UAE
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- White Energy Company Limited
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
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