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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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Monday, 14 June 10
S. AFRICA BOOSTS COAL SALES TO INDIA 12%, TRADER SAYS
Bloomberg reported that, South Africa’s Richards Bay, the world’s second-biggest coal export harbor, boosted sales to India by 12 percen ...
Sunday, 13 June 10
THE FUTURES FOR THREE YEARS (2010-2012) WAS AT AROUND CAPE/US$ 29000 PER DAY & PANAMAX/US$ 20500 PER DAY - VISTAAR
COALspot.com: The market continue to soften in all sectors and the most affected was cape size which was down by 16.32 pct. The BDI was down by 14.4 ...
Saturday, 12 June 10
BALTIC EXCHANGE ESTABLISHES ASIA-PACIFIC OFFICE
The London-based Baltic Exchange has today announced it is setting up an Asia-Pacific Representative Office in Singapore, to ensure closer contact w ...
Saturday, 12 June 10
NALCO TO ROPE IN PARTNERS FOR INDONESIA PROJECT
Sify reported that, the public sector National Aluminium Company (Nalco) is set to finalise the terms of its joint venture (JV) agreement with two f ...
Thursday, 10 June 10
CHARTERERS ARE NOT WILLING TO PAY THE RATES AS MARKET SLIDES
DRY BULK
Handy
Atlantic markets are quieter (Posidonia?) with less activity. Nevertheless expect some fresh enquiries f ...
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- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- White Energy Company Limited
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Australian Coal Association
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- PTC India Limited - India
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Planning Commission, India
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- MS Steel International - UAE
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- The University of Queensland
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
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