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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, 23 September 13
AUSTRALIA'S NEWCASTLE PORT SHIPPED 3 PERCENT LESS COAL WEEK ON WEEK
COALspot.com: Power plant and semi-soft coking coal shipments from Australia's Newcastle port fell 3 per cent week on week to 2.92 million mt for t ...
Sunday, 22 September 13
BDI STRENGTHENS FURTHER AS CAPESIZE FREIGHT RATES JUMP - CAPT. REDDY
COALspot.com: The freight market continued its upward trend and maintaining the moment with BDI and Cape index up by 16 pct week on week. The Capesi ...
Sunday, 22 September 13
API 8 CFR SOUTH CHINA COAL SWAPS ADVANCE
COALspot.com : SGX has launched API 8 CFR South China Coal Swap on 29 April 2013 and SGX replaced the previous swap.
API 8 CFR South China Coal s ...
Sunday, 22 September 13
SUB-BIT INDONESIA COAL SWAPS REMAIN UNDER PRESSURE
COALspot.com – Sub-Bit Indonesia coal swap (FOB ) for average Q4 2013 delivery down 2.09 percept month on month on Friday 20 September 2 ...
Friday, 20 September 13
SHIP OWNERS INVEST MORE THAN $9.2 BILLION ON NEW BUILDING VESSELS DURING AUGUST - NIKOS ROUSSANOGLOU, HELLENIC SHIPPING
Despite the fact that August is traditionally a slow month in terms of ships investment activity, ship owners have grasped this year the opportunity ...
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- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- White Energy Company Limited
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- PTC India Limited - India
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- MS Steel International - UAE
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Planning Commission, India
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- Australian Coal Association
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- The University of Queensland
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Deloitte Consulting - India
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- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
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