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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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Tuesday, 22 November 11
NTPC TO BUY 2 MMT OF IMPORTED COAL FOR ITS FOUR PLANTS
COALspot.com - NTPC Limited, incorporated in 1975 as a public sector company wholly owned by Government of India, the largest thermal power generati ...
Tuesday, 22 November 11
ABM INVESTAMA SETS IPO AT RP 3,750
Insider Stories reported that, Integrated energy company PT ABM Investama Tbk has determined the IPO price at Rp3,750 (approximately US$ 0.415) per ...
Tuesday, 22 November 11
A SURPRISINGLY STRONG WEEK FOR THE CAPES - BRS
Positive gains for most of the segments this week, the exception being the Handysizes. Overall the BDI ended the week at 1,895 points (+3.3% week-on ...
Tuesday, 22 November 11
APPETITE FOR DRY BULK VESSELS SLOWS DOWN AT THE START OF THE WEEK - NIKOS ROUSSANOGLOU, HELLENIC SHIPPING
The dry bulk market was down at the beginning of the week, as demand for Capesize vessels was particularly low. The industry’s benchmark, the ...
Monday, 21 November 11
CAPESIZES DRIVE MARKET LOWER, ANALYSTS DIVIDED ON DRY BULK OUTLOOK IN THE LONG RUN - NIKOS ROUSSANOGLOU, HELLENIC SHIPPING
The dry bulk market ended the week on a sour note, with the industry’s benchmark heading downwards to 1,895 points, which represented a slight ...
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- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- PTC India Limited - India
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Australian Coal Association
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- Minerals Council of Australia
- MS Steel International - UAE
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- The University of Queensland
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Planning Commission, India
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- White Energy Company Limited
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
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