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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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Thursday, 29 December 11
NEW VESSELS DELIVERED ARE FLOODING THE OCEANS - NIKOS ROUSSANOGLOU, HELLENIC SHIPPING
As expected 2011 has been the year that newbuilding deliveries peaked and kept "flooding" the market, thus supressing freight rates and er ...
Tuesday, 27 December 11
MINERS MAKE CASE FOR RESUMING CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS - THE JAKARTA POST
The Jakarta Post reported that, problems with the renegotiation of mining contracts in the country are far from over, as agreements on several cruci ...
Tuesday, 27 December 11
COAL SHIPMENT OF TIANJIN PORT REACHED 6.72 MLN TONNES IN NOVEMBER - STEEL HOME / HELLENIC SHIPPING
Tianjin port shipped 6.72 million tonnes of coal in November, decreasing 600,000 tonnes versus 7.32 million tonnes in October, while up 21.09% or 1. ...
Tuesday, 27 December 11
NEW CLAUSE PUBLISHED FOR SLOW STEAMING - BIMCO
Many owners and operators faced with high bunker prices are considering implementing slow steaming regimes to save fuel and to assist with capacity ...
Monday, 26 December 11
NEW EXPORT TAX PLAN GREETED WITH PRAISE AND CRITICISM - THE JAKARTA POST
The Jakarta Post, one of the Indonesia's leading english news paper reported that, both praise and criticism showered the government’s plan t ...
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- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- The University of Queensland
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- MS Steel International - UAE
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Australian Coal Association
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Economic Council, Georgia
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- PTC India Limited - India
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Planning Commission, India
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Parliament of New Zealand
- White Energy Company Limited
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
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