Mineral and Coal Bill
Despite the controversy surrounding it, the House of Representatives passes the Mineral and Coal Bill revision into Law in a plenary session on Tuesday (18/02). Religious mass organizations and enterprises are granted the permission to manage mining concessions, while higher education institutions may only become the beneficiaries of the enterprises specifically assigned to help with their academic endeavours. This decision, in return, has left people questioning the urgency of the bill even more. Who will benefit from it?
Coal’s plateau
The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts global coal demand would be flat until 2027, while China’s demand might start to decline this year. These might have contributed to 11.2% decline of global coal price year-to-date, making it the second worst performing mineral after cobalt (-11.3%).
Russian Oil
Energy and mineral resources Bahlil Lahadalia, who is chairman of Golkar Party, said recently that it should not be a problem for Indonesia to import crude oil from Russia. Indonesia’s decision to join BRICS, where Russia and China are key founding members, pave the way for Russian oil entering the country.
A more aggressive KUFPEC
Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (KUFPEC) is reportedly committed to invest US$10 billion in the development of oil and gas resources in Aceh province, used to the largest gas producing area in the country.
Coal Journal: Further corrections
The House of Representatives (DPR) is set to deliberate amendment of mineral and coal law today (Feb 18), which, among others, will legalise granting of mining concessions to mass organisations. The government and DPR, however, have decided to cancel a plan to award mining concessions to universities following nationwide protest from students, who are concerned about independence of the higher education.
Nickel production cut?
Nickel ended lower by 0.71% to US$15,122 in the London Metal Exchange (LME) Monday (Feb 3) amidst doubts over production cut in Indonesia. The commodity rallied from US$15,000 to as high as US$16,000 in the first two weeks of 2025 on the production cut speculation, but has since retreated to the lowest level since October 2020.
Oil & Gas Journal
Brent crude oil, which is a closer benchmark to Indonesian Crude Price (ICP), moved below US$77 per barrel in Asian trading this morning as market participants assessed implications of Trump’s plan to impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico—set to start February 1st.
Further correction of coal & Indonesian economy
Newcastle coal index has fallen 14.4% year to date to US$107.3 per ton, the lowest level in more than four years. The commodity has declined 11% year-on-year, but Indonesian thermal coal might have dropped bigger than that.
More controversies from Bahlil
Energy and mineral resources minister Bahlil Lahadalia, who is also chairman of Golkar Party, said over the weekend that not all policies should be reported to the President, when grilled by media about his policy that caused difficulties for households to buy the subsidised liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in the past few days.
Bosowa nickel divestment
Nickel ended slightly lower by 0.34% to US$15,990 per ton on the London Metal Exchange (LME) Tuesday (Jan 21) as investors responded negatively President Trump’s policies on electric vehicle (EV) and energy transition program.