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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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Friday, 04 October 13
US COAL PRODUCTION UP 2.1% WEEK ON WEEK - EIA
COALspot.com – United States the world’s second largest coal producer produced approximately 19.70 million short tons (mmst) of coal in ...
Thursday, 03 October 13
INDONESIA AUGUST COAL EXPORTS FALL 12.90 % FROM JULY TO 30.71 MIL MT
COALspot.com: Indonesia, the 15th largest economy in world, 4th largest coal producer in world and world's largest multi grade coal exporter ...
Thursday, 03 October 13
TOP FOUR U.S. COAL COMPANIES SUPPLIED MORE THAN HALF OF U.S. COAL PRODUCTION IN 2011 - EIA
In the past two years, more than half of U.S. coal production was attributable to the top four coal producers, the result of changes in regional pro ...
Thursday, 03 October 13
HANDY: PERIOD MARKET STAND IN GOOD POSITION - FEARNRESEARCH
Handy
Nickel ore and Bauxite was active last week but slowed down now due to Chinese holidays. Ships opened in North China fixed at US$ 11-13k leve ...
Wednesday, 02 October 13
DRY BULK MARKET IS STILL MAINTAINING ITS UPWARD DIRECTION
Chartering (Wet: Stable- / Dry: Firm+)
Despite the fact that rates for Capes didn't continue their crazy ride this past week, the Dry Bulk market ...
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- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- White Energy Company Limited
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- MS Steel International - UAE
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Planning Commission, India
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- PTC India Limited - India
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- The University of Queensland
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Australian Coal Association
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
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