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.
|
|
Wednesday, 18 April 12
INDONESIA TO INTRODUCE EXPORT DUTY ON MINERAL ORES BY 6 MAY 2012
The Indonesian government is scheduled to issue regulation on export duty for minerals before May 6, 2012.
According to Bisnis Indonesia, as quot ...
Sunday, 15 April 12
THE SPOT FIXTURE RATES FOR SUPRAMAX IN SE ASIA SAW SOME SOFTENING OF CHARTER RATES - VISTAAR
COALspot.com - The market seem to be holding and except for Supramax and handy size index all other index was up with BDI up by 4.74 pct closing at ...
Friday, 13 April 12
MINERS OPPOSE GOVTS EXPORT TAX PLAN - THE JAKARTA POST
The Jakarta Post reported that, Indonesian mining companies have strongly protested the government’s plan to impose a 25 percent export tax on ...
Friday, 13 April 12
S&P CAUTIONS AGAINST NEW INDONESIAN MINING REGULATIONS - THE JAKARTA GLOBE
The Jakarta Globe reported that, Investors may have expressed concerns about looming new mining regulations, but ratings agency Standard & Poor& ...
Thursday, 12 April 12
FIRST QUARTER OF 2012 SAW AN ADDITIONAL 24.2 MILLION DWT OF DRY BULK CARRIERS ENTERING THE FLEET - NIKOS ROUSSANOGLOU, HELLENIC SHIPPING
The inflow of newbuilt dry bulk vessels was larger than expected in the first quarter of 2012. As much as 24.2 million DWT were added to the fleet. ...
|
|
|
Showing 4766 to 4770 news of total 6871 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
 |
|
|
| |
|
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- MS Steel International - UAE
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- The University of Queensland
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- Australian Coal Association
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- White Energy Company Limited
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- PTC India Limited - India
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Planning Commission, India
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
|
| |
| |
|
