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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, 08 June 12
MINISTER DENIES COAL EXPORT TAX PLAN, ENDORSES RESTRICTIONS - THE JAKARTA POST
The Jakarta post, one of the leading english news paper in Indonesia reported that, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik has denied that ...
Friday, 08 June 12
NO IMMEDIATE IMPACT ON ADARO'S RATING FROM BEP TRANSACTION - FITCH RATINGS
Fitch Ratings has said that PT Adaro Indonesia's (Adaro, 'BB+'/ Stable) ratings are not immediately affected by its parent PT Adaro Energy Tbk's ...
Thursday, 07 June 12
DRY BULK MARKET FALLS FOR 10 STRAIGHT SESSION ON OVERSUPPLY PROBLEMS - NIKOS ROUSSANOGLOU, HELLENIC SHIPPING
A resurgence of oversupply, coupled with national holidays in various parts of the world has contributed to yet another fall of the dry bulk market ...
Thursday, 07 June 12
COAL EXPORT TAX NOT RATIONAL: MINISTER - THE JAKARTA POST
Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan has criticized as irrational the idea to restrict coal exports by imposing an export tax, According to The Jakarta post ...
Thursday, 07 June 12
BY 2022 PLN IS EXPECTED TO BURN AROUND 125 MILLION TONS OF COAL
COALspot.com - Indonesia's state owned electricity company's (PLN) coal consumption is expected to reach 125.7 million tons by 2012.
Nur Pamudj ...
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- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- MS Steel International - UAE
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- PTC India Limited - India
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- The University of Queensland
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Planning Commission, India
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Parliament of New Zealand
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- White Energy Company Limited
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Australian Coal Association
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
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