Chapter 11 Fuel resources: coal

Abstract

The coal resources of Sumatra were developed rapidly during the 1980s and 1990s following the oil shocks of the 1970s. This encouraged the Indonesian Government to develop the abundant coal resources of the nation as a major source of energy, as it was appreciated that it was not sensible to rely upon any single energy source. Coal resources are now of vital importance to the Indonesian economy, being used as fuel in preference to that of oil for thermo-electric generating stations, and cement works, throughout Indonesia. Coal has also been developed as one of Indonesia's major export commodities, being shipped to ASEAN countries and other countries in the Far East, such as Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Taiwan, Korea and Japan, which are deficient in fuel resources, as well as further afield to Europe Coal was first discovered under the Dutch colonial administration in the Ombilin Basin, within the Barisan Mountains, near Sawahlunto in West Sumatra in 1891 (Fig. 11.1). The area has a rugged mountainous topography and mining operations could not commence until a railway line had been constructed to transport the coal from Sawahlunto to the port of Teluk Bayur south of Padang on the west coast of Sumatra. The Ombilin area continues as a major producer of coal, mostly through open-cast mining, but much of the coal is now transported to the coast by road. In 1919, the Bukit Asam Mine in South Sumatra began production, the coal being exported again by rail transport through the ports of