Jakarta, Feb 3 (ANTARA) - Indonesia, which over the past few years has become the world's third largest coal exporter after Australia and China, is planning to gradually stop its exports in order to help strengthen the country's energy resilience.
As it is now carrying out its second coal-fired 10,000 MW power crash program, Indonesia, with coal reserves estimated at 4,328 million tons, will need to save its coal as an energy source to meet future needs.
A recommendation to that effect is now being formulated by the National Energy Board (DEN), and will later be submitted to the government. According to DEN member Rinaldi Dalimi, during a meeting with Commission VII of the House of Representatives recently, Indonesia should save its coal as an energy reserve to meet future needs.
"Up till now, DEN members are still discussing a strategy to keep coal to ourselves and the benefits to be derived by such a policy. The finalized recommendation is expected to be presented to the government in February 2010," he said.
Rinaldi argued that keeping coal as a future energy source would give maximum benefit to Indonesia since the product's price was expected to rise in the years ahead. In addition, the present coal production of 250 million tons per year would only reach its break-even point in the next 20 to 30 years.
"The coal price 30 years from now will surely be much higher, " he said adding that stopping coal exports would also better ensure the fulfillment of future domestic needs.
DEN is an institution tasked to draw up formulas for national energy policies. It is chaired by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono with the vice president as vice chairman, and the energy and natural resources minister as executive chairman.
Indonesia has of late been experiencing power shortages that forced state electricity company PLN to impose rotating blackouts in the country's major cities. The power crisis is expected to be overcome after the completion of the second phase of the government's 10,000-MW power generation program.
Lagislator Sutan Bhatoegana some time ago said the government had guaranteed that coal producers at home would increase their production from 230 million tons per annum to 280 million tons in order to help meet the domestic need for coal.
According to the Association of Indonesian Coal Mining Companies (APBI), Indonesia's coal production target for 2010 has been set at 275 million to 280 million metric tons.
APBI's chief public relations officer, Herman Heru Suprob, said on Wednesday the 2010 target was higher than last year's which reached 254 million metric tons of which 85 percent was contributed by APBI members.
"If all goes well, we believe production in 2010 will reach 275 million to 280 million metric tons," he said.
Herman admitted the industry had had to deal with various problems in 2009 so that it was unable to reach its production target and even produced 20 percent less than the year before. One of the problems, he said, was licensing, particularly for mining in forested areas, a process that could take between six and 12 months to complete.
He said this had happened because of lack of coordination between the central administration, in this case the energy and mineral resources ministry and regional administrations as well as between provincial and district administrations. "The industry would suffer if they would go by themselves and become egocentric," he said.
According to a 2008 statistical energy survey, as quoted by the MBendi Information Services portal, Indonesia has coal reserves of 4,328 million ton. Indonesia is one of the leading exporters of sub-bituminous coal which represents the bulk of Indonesian coal production.
Based on the survey, Indonesia has coal production of 174.83 million tons in 2007, and consumption of 27.8 million tons oil equivalent. Most of Indonesia's coal reserves are situated in the southern parts of Sumatra with the balance located in Kalimantan, West Java, and Sulawesi.
State-owned PT Tambang Bukit Asam (PTBA) is one of the five largest coal producers in Indonesia. In the past several years, almost a quarter (22 percent) of its production was exported to international markets, including Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Spain, France and Germany. The company has mineable reserves of approximately 7.3 billion tons or 17 percent of the total coal reserves in Indonesia.
For this year, PTBA has set itself the target of producing 14 million tons of coal and a sales turnover of Rp8.9 trillion. Of the sales turnover, Rp6 trillion was expected to come from exports and the rest from domestic coal sales.
At the same time, the volume of PTBA coal sales is projected at 12.224 million tons of which 4.46 million tons would be exported and 7.764 million tons sold at home.
The state-owned coal mining firm has also set aside Rp1.5 trillion to acquire other coal mining ventures in 2010. According to its President Director Sukrisno, PTBA is exploring the possibility of acquiring coal mining companies in Kalimantan while developing its existing coal mining operations.
Ar present PTBA was making a bid to acquire a "greenfield" mining concession (KP) in Kalimantan. "We are also interested in taking over mining ventures overseas such as in Australia and Africa," he added.
PTBA has been intensively looking for coal mining ventures at home it could acquire but would not yet do the same abroad in 2010. "Acquisitions overseas are included in our medium- and long-term plans," he said.
(T.A014/A/HAJM/B003)
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