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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, 30 June 14
WEEKLY CFR SOUTH CHINA COAL SWAPS DECLINE CONTINUES; Q1'15 LOST US$ 4.55 PMT IN A WEEK
COALspot.com: API 8 CFR South China Coal swap for delivery in Q3 fell US$ 5.25 month on month on Friday, dipping under $69 a tone. The CFR South Ch ...
Monday, 30 June 14
INDO - INDIA FREIGHT RATES CONTINUE TO WEAK
COALspot.com: The latest dry Index shows that average all-in spot freight declined, the Panamax and Supramax slipping by 9.11 percent and 4% respec ...
Friday, 27 June 14
DRY BULK MARKET STILL LOOKING FOR UPSIDE - NIKOS ROUSSANOGLOU, HELLENIC SHIPPING NEWS
The dry bulk market has kept up its lacklustre performance during the past week, as evidenced by the course of the Baltic Dry Index (BDI). The BDI ...
Thursday, 26 June 14
PANAMAX : A PACIFIC ROUND PAYS AROUND US$ 3K DAILY - FEARNLEYS AS
Handy
In the Atlantic there has been little activity which again has caused rates to slip across all trades. TA´s are now down to US$ 5,500 ...
Thursday, 26 June 14
KOMIPO INVITES BIDS FOR TOTAL 750K MT OF BITUMINOUS COAL FOR 3CY
COALspot.com: South Korean state-owned utility Korea Midland Power (KOMIPO) has issued a new tender for supply of total 250,000 MT of bituminous co ...
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- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- The University of Queensland
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- White Energy Company Limited
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- MS Steel International - UAE
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- PTC India Limited - India
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Planning Commission, India
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- Australian Coal Association
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
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