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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, 20 September 12
DRY BULK INCHES FORWARD AFTER WEEKS OF BELOW PAR PERFORMANCE - NIKOS ROUSSANOGLOU, HELLENIC SHIPPING
The dry bulk market has started to revive from its ashed, as the past couple of days, traders have reported an increased activity from China, result ...
Wednesday, 19 September 12
CHURCHILL STRENGTHENS LITIGATION TEAM WITH APPOINTMENT OF NICHOLAS SMITH AS MANAGING DIRECTOR
COALspot.com - Churchill Mining PLC (AIM: CHL) has announced that, Mr Nicholas Smith has joined the board of the Company and has been appointed as t ...
Wednesday, 19 September 12
DRY BULK TERMINALS SINGAPORE
Press Release - Dry bulk terminals are used all around the world to handle large quantities of bulk materials, like minerals, grains, etc. In today& ...
Tuesday, 18 September 12
JORC CODE REVISION - EXPOSURE DRAFT RELEASED FOR COMMENT
COALspot.com - The Australasian Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) has today released for public comment the exposure draft of the JORC Code (2012) ...
Monday, 17 September 12
YEAR TO DATE, BUMA PRODUCED 231.1 MILLION BCM OF OVERBURDEN
COALspot.com - PT. Delta Dunia Makmur Tbk has removed 31.5 million bcm (+6.0 percent YoY) overburden in August 2012 totaled 31.5 million bcm ( ...
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- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- MS Steel International - UAE
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- Australian Coal Association
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- PTC India Limited - India
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- Planning Commission, India
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- White Energy Company Limited
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- The University of Queensland
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
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