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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, 28 February 13
INDIA HAS INCREASED CUSTOMS DUTY AND COUNTERVAILING DUTY FOR POWER PLANT COAL
COALspot.com : The government of India raised basic customs duty and countervailing duty on steam coal. In the meantime government has reduced& ...
Thursday, 28 February 13
SHIP OWNERS EXPECTED TO FACE A CHALLENGING YEAR, DESPITE THE FALL OF NEWBUILDING ORDERS - NIKOS ROUSSANOGLOU, HELLENIC SHIPPING
Tonnage oversupply and a lagging growth in world trade demand are expected to keep shipping in the "red", despite a series of measures ado ...
Thursday, 28 February 13
PANAMAX : MARKET HAS SEEN A GOOD UPTURN OVER THE LAST WEEK - FEARNLEYS
Handy
The Atlantic saw more cargoes than last week and rates ticking upwards. The USG-Feast was at USD 19k and Black Sea-Feast was at USD 11k. The ...
Wednesday, 27 February 13
NEWCASTLE PORT IN AUSTRALIA SHIPPED 0.358 MILLION MT MORE COAL W-O-W
COALspot.com - Newcastle port in Australia has loaded 2,178,869 MT of thermal and coking coal for week ended 0700 hours 25 February 2013, Newc ...
Wednesday, 27 February 13
NEWLEAD HOLDINGS LTD. ANNOUNCES COAL SUPPLY AND DELIVERY CONTRACT
NewLead Holdings Ltd. yesterday announced that the Company has signed an agreement to supply and deliver 1.48 million metric tons of steam coal to a ...
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- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- MS Steel International - UAE
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- PTC India Limited - India
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- The University of Queensland
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- White Energy Company Limited
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Planning Commission, India
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Australian Coal Association
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
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