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Monday, 20 February 12
COAL BOOM AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERN - SUNIL K KUMBHAT
 COALspot.com - The dawn of the 21st century has seen a shift in the world's commercial balance of power, with the dominance of the US, Europe and Japan challenged by the rapid industrialisation of hungry new economies. The rise of the so-called BRIIC nations - Brazil, Russia, India ,Indonesia and China - is giving birth to new global financial centres, vibrant industrial markets and above all surging demand for raw materials to supply new projects.
But where does environmental responsibility fit into this drive for resources?
Growing demand for thermal Coal has created a new coal boom, which is great news for Coal producing countries such as Indonesia, Australia , south Africa . The demand of coal is growing at a massive rate in Asia particularly India and China. Both the coal hungry countries are making efforts to secure supplies by acquiring Coal mines or forming Joint ventures for their new power generating plants.
The demand is fuelling the world prices of coal, although prices are still not as high as witnessed in 2008 when everything peaked before the global financial crisis but there all indications that by 2012/2013 coal prises will reach to record high.
The India and China are becoming the mainstay of the market . Both the countries are having huge Coal reserves ,but still they are importing huge qty of coal to meet there increased demand and as such they are effectively driving the world Coal market and its prices. India’s demand for coal is expected to grow at a faster rate than any other country in the world.
India's rich untapped mineral resources of more than 20 mineral types - including gold, copper, coal and bauxite but the fact that many of these resources are located in rural, heavily forested areas with predominantly tribal populations has raised concerns over the environmental impact of mining operations.
The country has a long history of environmental damage caused by both domestic and international mining companies, as well as the ecological problems from hundreds of abandoned mines in areas like Bihar's Jharia and Rhaniganj coal fields. Like China, India has been plagued by the environmental problems associated with illegal and unlicensed mining operations, which the country's Directorate General of Mines Safety has been ill-equipped to deal with due to funding deficiencies.
Similarly China has come under fire from human rights activists and environmental groups alike for its arguably lax approach to both worker safety (the country has become the mining disaster capital of the world in recent years) and environmental accountability. The Chinese Government's approach to corporate and environmental responsibility has been characterised by outside observers as simply paying lip service to the environment - hinting that ISO guidelines for mining would be welcomed - without implementing practical measures to promote change.
The environmental impact of mining operations in Brazil is also under sharper scrutiny than many other countries, primarily because its borders contain the lion's share of the Amazon rainforest, a haven for biodiversity and one of the most important eco-systems in the world.
As such, environmental awareness is particularly strong in the Brazilian mining industry. Experts from the Brazilian Association of Technical Standards are playing a leadership role in the further development of the recently introduced ISO 26000 international standard on social responsibility. Furthermore, licensing for new mining projects is often legally conditional on the drafting of comprehensive environmental impact studies, reports and extensive public consultations, particularly in areas inhabited by tribal groups.
Although carrying out mining operations in a region like the Amazon will be controversial, the environmental commitment seen here and echoed by many other Brazilian mining companies (including industry giant Vale, which has a complex environmental quality management system based on ISO 14001 standards) provides a useful model of awareness for other BRIC nations, and the global mining industry in general, to follow.
India is emerging as a fast economy, targeting 9-10% annual growth. Realizing the underlying growth potential will largely depend on it's ability to meet energy requirements. Energy sector whose growth targets inter alia depend on coal. At a 9% growth rate, the capacity requirement will be 960Gw and energy requirement will be 4,806 billion kWh. In the light of these projections, coal demand is estimated to rise many fold. Main concentration of Indian companies remains in Indonesia as many new mines are opened for exploration , exploitation and production .Today Indonesia is one of the most rapidly developing coal producing country in the world.
For a strong economy, one needs strong infrastructure and power plants. For strong infrastructure and power plants , one needs steel. Steel is the backbone of an economy, and it is metallurgical coal and thermal coal that is used to produce steel and electricity.
An increase in Coal production is the opposite of what the global climate change forums have wanted to see because coal without any doubt is one of the dirtiest and filthiest fossil fuel in terms of CO2 and when it comes to harmful emissions that most environmentalists and energy economists agree causes global warming.
Coal consumption is going in a direction that policy makers would prefer it not to go.
Critical question is whether there is a willingness amongst coal producers and power generating plants to make their technology cleaner, so it emits less greenhouse gases(GHG) which leads to global warming .Energy scientists have long been voicing concern on the rise in the level of Greenhouse gases, which leads to Global warming and climatic changes that are detrimental to economies worldwide.
The disastrous consequences for global climate change is one topic that has now taken very serious dimension but hardly been realised in a serious enough way by the nations across the world.
The new thermal plants being built are certainly more efficient than older ones. There exist technology to have emission-free power plants - the only constraint is the cost. The cost of clean coal technology is very high, yet when we look at the alternatives to coal, they are even higher than that - for example, nuclear, solar, wind. The real costs of all these alternatives are still to be determined, but there is no doubt that clean coal technologies can double the cost of coal in generating energy.
None of the alternatives appears to be commercially viable right now for required generation of energy without considering subsidies and tax incentives . If any country accepts sustainable growth and development as the way forward, it subsumes the climate change issues.
At the same time, no country can ignore the inherent contradiction in the expression ‘sustainable growth’.
Growth essentially involves exploiting natural resources for human benefit and countries have to strike a delicate balance between environmental sustainability and economic growth. It is easier said than done.
As the climate issue impinges on everyone, wisdom demands that nations sink their petty differences in approach and strategy to stem the danger from spreading further and squeezing the survival prospects of one and all.
Principally, the efforts boil down to reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission, caused primarily by accelerated economic development through exploitation of fossil fuels rich in carbon dioxide.
Every action does not need to be official or based on protocols. In any case, every country need to adopt new methods and ways of doing things in optimising the use of exhaustible resources, energy and water. Corporations / Institutions must carry out energy analysis and incorporate environmental accounting practices to reduce green house gas emission levels at their facilities. The government, in turn, could enforce a form of taxation based on companies’ contribution to climate change.
Climate change is today's biggest problem, threatening mankind with extinction. The problem, largely of man's own doing, must be treated as an emergency by all.
The president of Indonesia issued a Presidential decree instructing all central and regional authorities to support the moratorium by suspending the granting of permits for the use of “primary natural forests” for two years. This Presidential decree is part of Indonesia’s efforts to comply with the bilateral agreement between Indonesia and Norway on forest conservation.
Various governments worldwide are beginning to put regulations in place and to encourage development of more sustainable sources of power generation in order to protect populations worldwide from the immediate detrimental effects on life and health, and to protect the environment for future generation.
By : Sunil K Kumbhat , Jodhpur( Rajasthan ) India
Views expressed herein are personal views of the author and not that of COALspot.com.
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Monday, 27 February 12
INDONESIAN COAL EXPORTS TO CHINA DROPS 39.76 PERCENT IN JANUARY 2012
COALspot.com: Indonesia, the world largest coal exporter, shipped 28.21* mln mt of coal in January 2012, slightly lower than its December 2011 ...
Monday, 27 February 12
WEEKLY DRY MARKET OVERVIEW - MARIA BERTZELETOU, HELLENIC SHIPPING
The pessimism in the dry market persists with the Baltic Dry Index still trying to find a steady pace of growth and average time charter earnings fo ...
Sunday, 26 February 12
THE FREIGHT RATES FOR INDONESIA TO INDIA IS LIKELY TO BE FIRM FOR NEXT 2/3 WEEKS - VISTAAR
COALspot.com – “There was not much change in the BDI and other indices this week except for the Panamax which was down by 11.91 pc ...
Friday, 24 February 12
DRY BULK MARKET POSTS FIRST REBOUND IN A WEEK - NIKOS ROUSSANOGLOU, HELLENIC SHIPPING
As was expected since mid-week, the dry bulk market's benchmark, the BDI (Baltic Dry Index) has managed to put a stop in a 6-day losing rally, endi ...
Thursday, 23 February 12
2.5 PANAMAX VESSELS PER AVAILABLE CARGO FOR MARCH DATES - FEARN BULK
Handy
Another depressing week for Supras in both basins. Lack of fresh business and over-supply of tonnage in the Atlantic pushed rates south. Cont ...
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- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Minerals Council of Australia
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- Planning Commission, India
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- PTC India Limited - India
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Australian Coal Association
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- MS Steel International - UAE
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- The University of Queensland
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- White Energy Company Limited
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
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