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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, 22 August 13
PANAMAX : PERIOD MARKET IS STILL BEING LED BY STRONGER SENTIMENT IN THE FFA'S - FEARNRESEARCH
Handy
This week started slowly as expected. Indo biz now rate APS around 7k +60k to china and around 8k+80k to India. However, there are some ships ...
Wednesday, 21 August 13
DRY BULK SHIPPING - POSITIVE WINDOW FOR CAPESIZE OWNERS - PETER SAND
By: Peter Sand, Chief Shipping Analyst, BIMCO
Demand:
“Expect the unexpected from the dry bulk market” was what we wrote last time ar ...
Wednesday, 21 August 13
RATES FOR CAPES MOVED DECISIVELY NORTH THIS WEEK - INTERMODAL
COALspot.com - Right when the BDI seemed ready for another dive below the 1000 points level, the Dry Bulk market made significant comeback this week ...
Tuesday, 20 August 13
AUSTRALIA NEWCASTLE COAL EXPORTS FALL 19.15 PERCENT ON WEEK
COALspot.com: Power plant and semi-soft coking coal shipments from Australia's Newcastle port fell 19.15 per cent week on week to 2.39 million mt f ...
Tuesday, 20 August 13
CAPESIZE RATES MORE SENSITIVE TO DEMAND - COMMODORE RESEARCH & CONSULTANCY
COALspot.com : Approximately 71.50 million tons of iron ore is now stockpiled at Chinese ports, 900,000 tons (-1%) less than a week ago, Commodore R ...
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- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- PTC India Limited - India
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- MS Steel International - UAE
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- Planning Commission, India
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- The University of Queensland
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- White Energy Company Limited
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Australian Coal Association
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
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