We welcome article submissions from experts in the areas of coal, mining,
shipping, etc.
To Submit your article please click here.
|
|
|
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)
If you believe an article violates your rights or the rights of others, please contact us.
|
|
Saturday, 07 July 12
EXCESS SUPPLY & WEAK DEMAND KEEP COAL PRICES LOW
COALspot.com - SGX AsiaClear OTC Coal Swaps for August and Q4 deliveries slipped slightly this week. SGX’s Indonesian sub-bituminous coal swap ...
Saturday, 07 July 12
BALTIC INDEX UP ON STRONG CAPE, PANAMAX RATES - VISTAAR
COALspot.com - This week all the segments were firmed up with BDI up by 15.23 pct (up by 153 points) closing at 1,157 points.
The cape index also ...
Saturday, 07 July 12
DRY BULK MARKET NOT ABLE TO FIND SOLID GROUND SAY EXPERTS - NIKOS ROUSSANOGLOU, HELLENIC SHIPPING
With the second half of each, traditionally looking the most active one, especially in terms of newbuildings being delivered, it's highly unlikely ...
Thursday, 05 July 12
GOVT GETS READY FOR $1.8B SUIT - THE JAKARTA POST
The Jakarta Post, one of the leading Indonesian English new papers reported that, several ministries and the Attorney General’s Office held a ...
Thursday, 05 July 12
DRY BULK MARKET MOVES FURTHER UP THE HILL - NIKOS ROUSSANOGLOU, HELLENIC SHIPPING
The dry bulk market has kept its growth momentum by the middle of the week, as the BDI (Baltic Dry Index) rose by an additional 40 points to 1,103 p ...
|
|
|
Showing 4666 to 4670 news of total 6871 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
 |
|
|
| |
|
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Planning Commission, India
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- The University of Queensland
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- PTC India Limited - India
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- MS Steel International - UAE
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Parliament of New Zealand
- White Energy Company Limited
- Australian Coal Association
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
|
| |
| |
|
