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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, 20 September 13
DRY BULK MARKET REACHES NEW HEIGHTS THIS WEEK STANDING AT THREE-YEAR HIGH - NIKOS ROUSSANOGLOU, HELLENIC SHIPPING
The biggest rally of the dry bulk market in more than three years have brought back joy among ship owners, especially those active in the Capesize m ...
Friday, 20 September 13
US COAL PRODUCTION SLIGHTLY UP WEEK ON WEEK
COALspot.com – United States the world’s second largest coal producer produced totalled approximately 20.30 million short tons (mmst) of ...
Friday, 20 September 13
COLOMBIA SHIPPED 31.14 MILLION TONS OF THERMAL COAL IN H1
COALspot.com : Colombia’s coal exports fell by 20.59 percent in June 2013 compared to Colombia’s May's export of 7,633,579 MT.
Colom ...
Thursday, 19 September 13
CAPESIZE : AVERAGE DAILY EARNINGS HAVE GAINED ALMOST USD 6K WOW - FEARNLEYS
Handy
The rates in Feast are still firm this week even the activity calmed down a bit as chrtrs are not in a rush to cover even their end Sept carg ...
Wednesday, 18 September 13
IRON ORE AND ZINC ARE BEST PERFORMING MINING SECTORS IN CURRENT LOW PRICE, HIGH COST ENVIRONMENT - WOOD MACKENZIE
With the fall in commodity prices, cash margins in the mining industry have come under pressure. Accordingly, producers and investors are placing in ...
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- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- The University of Queensland
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Australian Coal Association
- MS Steel International - UAE
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Parliament of New Zealand
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- Planning Commission, India
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- White Energy Company Limited
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- PTC India Limited - India
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- GMR Energy Limited - India
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