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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, 16 September 12
GLOBAL LOW DEMAND ; INDONESIA COAL AND CFR SOUTH CHINA COAL SWAPS DIP
COALspot.com - Sub-Bit Indonesia coal swaps (FOB ) for November 2012 delivery lost 1.345 percent W-O-W on Friday, 14 September 2012, closing but gai ...
Sunday, 16 September 12
THE FREIGHT RATES FROM INDONESIA TO INDIA EXPECTED TO BE STEADY - VISTAAR
COALspot.com - The freight market was mixed with most indices closing positive except for the Panamax index.
The main sentiment seems to be ...
Saturday, 15 September 12
FINANCE MINISTRY OPPOSES TAX INCENTIVE PLAN FOR COAL MINERS - JP
The Jakarta Post reported that, the Finance Ministry has turned down the idea of providing a fiscal incentive to the country’s coal mining ind ...
Friday, 14 September 12
DRY BULK MARKET LOOKS TOWARDS CHINA FOR SOME POSITIVE NEWS - NIKOS ROUSSANOGLOU, HELLENIC SHIPPING
With the dry bulk market freight rates submerged underwater for a large part of the year, dry bulk owners are looking for some positive enhancement ...
Friday, 14 September 12
GOVT OFFERS CONDITIONAL TAX HOLIDAY TO AILING COAL MINERS - JP
The Jakarta Post, one of the leading English news paper in Indonesia reported that, acknowledging difficulties encountered by coal miners due to a p ...
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- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Planning Commission, India
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- The University of Queensland
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- MS Steel International - UAE
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Australian Coal Association
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- PTC India Limited - India
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- White Energy Company Limited
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
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