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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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Sunday, 20 January 13
Q1 & Q4 SUB-BIT FOB INDONESIA COAL SWAPS: FIRM
COALspot.com - Sub-Bit Indonesia coal swaps (FOB ) and CFR South China coal shipment for average Q1’ 2013 delivery have gained 0.81percent and ...
Sunday, 20 January 13
S7 & S8 ROUTE FREIGHT TREND IS EXPECTED TO BE FLAT TO SOFT THIS WEEK - VISTAAR
COALspot.com - The freight market was fairly steady with all the indices BDI up by 9.21 pct closing at 837 points. The Cape index was also sharply u ...
Friday, 18 January 13
NEWLEAD HOLDINGS LTD. TO ACQUIRE TWO COAL PROPERTIES WITH ESTIMATED COAL RESERVES OF 18.6 MMT & 143.1 MMT
NewLead Holdings Ltd. Announces Signing Agreement to Acquire Properties with Estimated Coal Reserves of 18.6 Million Tons; Signing Agreement to Acqu ...
Friday, 18 January 13
DRY BULK MARKET ON THE RISE, ON STRONG DEMAND FOR CAPESIZE VESSELS - NIKOS ROUSSANOGLOU, HELLENIC SHIPPING NEWS
The dry bulk market has continued its climbing trend yesterday, as the industry's benchmark, the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) was up by 39 points to 820. ...
Friday, 18 January 13
CAPESIZE : SIGNALS ARE MIXED BUT THE OVERALL TENDENCY IS POSITIVE - FEARNLEYS
Handy
The Atlantic market remained stable with USG-Feast fixed around USD 17k, according to fearnleys’s weekly report.
Continent / Medite ...
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- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- White Energy Company Limited
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- The University of Queensland
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- PTC India Limited - India
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Planning Commission, India
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- MS Steel International - UAE
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- Australian Coal Association
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
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