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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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Thursday, 30 January 14
JPU SETTLEMENT PRICE AS A BENCHMARK WILL DECLINE IN IMPORTANCE BUT REMAIN RELEVANT, SAYS WOOD MACKENZIE
JPU price will remain above spot, trending closer to spot till 2015 then increasing to 2035.
Japanese Power Utilities (JPU) are approaching a cru ...
Thursday, 30 January 14
PANAMAX MARKET IS SOFTENING ON LESS ACTIVITY IN BOTH HEMISPHERES - FEARNRESEARCH
Handy
In the Atlantic rates have been slowly sliding but ows can still achieve decent money for TArv´s. USG positions still being fixed in re ...
Thursday, 30 January 14
TANKER PROFITABILITY IS THE 'MILLION-DOLLAR' QUESTION FOR SHIP OWNERS THIS YEAR - NIKOS ROUSSANOGLOU, HELLENIC SHIPPING NEWS
The tanker market conditions are expected to remain challenging throughout the year for tanker owners, but even more pressing will be the issue of a ...
Tuesday, 28 January 14
GLOBAL COKING AND STEAM COAL PRODUCTION HAVE GROWN 2% TO 3% TO ABOUT 7.1 BILLION TONNES AS OF THE END OF 2013 - VDKI
COALspot.com (Press Release): Initial figures on the world hard coal market at the VDKi ((Association of Coal Importers - German) New Year’s R ...
Tuesday, 28 January 14
AUSTRALIAN NEWCASTLE PORT'S WEEKLY COAL EXPORTS JUMP 13.75% WEEK ON WEEK
COALspot.com: In the week ended 27 January 2014, power plant and semi-soft coking coal shipments from the port of Newcastle in Queensland, totalled ...
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- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- PTC India Limited - India
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- MS Steel International - UAE
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- White Energy Company Limited
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Australian Coal Association
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Planning Commission, India
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- The University of Queensland
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
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