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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, 03 August 12
INDIA - LIGHTS OUT! - SALVA
The Indian power sector hit global headlines this week for all the wrong reasons. Firstly, on Monday, over 350 million people lost power across nort ...
Thursday, 02 August 12
OIL & GAS COMPANIES TO MEET IN MYANMAR FOR UPDATES ON NEW ROUND OF BIDDING AND INVESTMENT POTENTIAL IN UPSTREAM OIL, GAS, AND POWER GENERATION
Press Release - 2nd MOGP Summit (Myanmar Oil, Gas & Power) will convene in Yangon from 3 – 6 September 2012, to unveil new round of biddin ...
Thursday, 02 August 12
DRY BULK MARKET RATES CONTINUE SLUMP AMID SLOWER DEMAND NIKOS ROUSSANOGLOU, HELLENIC SHIPPING
The dry bulk market kept on its downward path Wednesday, as the BDI (Baltic Dry Index) kept retreating to new lows. The index was down by 2.12 perce ...
Monday, 30 July 12
DRY BULK MARKET TO REMAIN UNDER PRESSURE FOR THE REST OF 2012 - NIKOS ROUSSANOGLOU, HELLENIC SHIPPING
In an interview with Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide, Mr. Yannis Pachoulis, President of the Hellenic Shipbrokers' Association, remains cautiously ...
Sunday, 29 July 12
FREIGHT MARKET MOMENTUM CONTINUES TO WEAK
COALspot.com - The freight market continued to soft this week with all the segments dropped and the BDI fell below 1,000 points and closed at 933 po ...
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- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- The University of Queensland
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- White Energy Company Limited
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- PTC India Limited - India
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Minerals Council of Australia
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- MS Steel International - UAE
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- Planning Commission, India
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Economic Council, Georgia
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Australian Coal Association
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
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