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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, 08 March 13
DRY BULK MARKET ON A RISING TREND - NIKOS ROUSSANOGLOU, HELLENIC SHIPPING
The dry bulk market has continued its rising pattern set after China opened up again for business, following the Asian New Year Holidays. As a resul ...
Thursday, 07 March 13
PANAMAX : POSITIVE TREND; CAPESIZE : GRADUALLY SLIDE - FEARNLEYS AS
Handy
The Atlantic saw more cargoes than last week and rates ticking upwards. The USG-Feast was at USD 22k and Black sea-feast was at USD 12k. The ...
Tuesday, 05 March 13
NEWCASTLE PORT SHIPPED 20.77 PERCENT MORE COAL W/E 4 MARCH 2013
COALspot.com - Newcastle port in Australia has loaded 2,631,562 MT of thermal and coking coal for a week ended 0700 hours 4 March 2013, Newcas ...
Sunday, 03 March 13
INDONESIAN THERMAL COAL SWAPS; CHINA CONTRACTS FALL W-O-W
COALspot.com - Sub-Bit Indonesia coal swaps (FOB ) for average Q2’ 2013 delivery has lost 0.75 percent and CFR South China coal shipment&nbs ...
Sunday, 03 March 13
FREIGHT MARKET FROM INDONESIA EXPECTED TO BE FIRM - VISTAAR
COALspot.com – The freight market has been fairly firm this week except for cape size index.
The BDI was up by 4.64 points closing at 776 p ...
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- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Planning Commission, India
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- PTC India Limited - India
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- White Energy Company Limited
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- Australian Coal Association
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- The University of Queensland
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- MS Steel International - UAE
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
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