Indonesia

Liu Zengjie

Indonesia is located in southeastern Asia, across the equator, consisting of more than 13,700 islands of various sizes, and is the largest archipelagic country in the world, with a land area of 1,919,400km2, a land area of 1,826,400km2, and a population of 238 million.

Indonesia is rich in mineral resources, with the mining industry accounting for 10% of GDP. As the only OPEC oil producer in the Asia-Pacific region, oil and gas is the pillar industry of Indonesia's national economy, accounting for 24% of the government's revenue, and the oil and gas export revenue accounts for 15% of Indonesia's total export revenue.In 2006, the high price of the international mineral market, Indonesia's GDP grew by 5.5%, and in 2007, it grew by 6.1%.

I. Reserves and Resources

Indonesia has rich mineral resources, proven oil, natural gas, coal, tin, aluminum, nickel, copper, gold, silver and other minerals. Among the important mineral resources are tin, which ranks third in the world, copper, which ranks second in the world, nickel, which ranks eighth in the world, and gold, which ranks sixth in the world.

According to the 2007 final issue of the U.S. Oil & Gas Journal, as of the end of 2007, Indonesia's remaining proved recoverable reserves of petroleum were 599 million tons, accounting for 0.3% of the world's total reserves, ranking twenty-fifth in the world; remaining proved recoverable reserves of natural gas were 265,896,666,000,000 m3, accounting for 1.5% of the world's total reserves, ranking thirteenth in the world. There are about 60 sedimentary basins in Indonesia, 73% of which are located in the sea, and the 36 oil and gas-bearing basins that have been explored so far are mainly located in the western region, and the main oil and gas-bearing areas are Sumatra Oil and Gas Area, Java Oil and Gas Area, and East Kalimantan Oil and Gas Area.

Table 1 Major Mineral Reserves in Indonesia

Source: ①Mineral Commodity Summaries, 2005～2007; ②BP Statistical Review of World Energy, 2005～2007; ③U.S. Oil and Gas Journal, 2005～2007.

According to the assessment of global oil and gas resources to be discovered by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in 2000, the oil resources to be discovered in Indonesia amounted to 1.014 billion tons, and the natural gas amounted to 3.05 trillion m3.

In 2006, Indonesia **** obtained 16 new oil and gas discoveries, of which 8 were oil discoveries, 8 were natural gas discoveries, and 9 were offshore discoveries. 8, 9 in the sea and 7 onshore.

Indonesia is rich in coal resources, and the government forecasts that coal resources will exceed 19 billion tons.

II. Mineral Production and Consumption

Indonesia is an important producer of minerals in the world, and its production of tin, coal, copper, nickel, and gold ranks among the world's top producers. Mining is the pillar industry of Indonesia's national economy, the international price of minerals rose in 2006, 2006 Indonesia's mining revenue earnings rose sharply, the government's total mining revenue of 3.4 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 25% over 2005.

Oil and natural gas Indonesia is the only OPEC oil producer in the Asia-Pacific region and the second largest oil producer in Asia, with oil production ranking 20th in the world. At present, Indonesia's oil is mainly produced in the western basin, since 2000 due to the natural decline in the production of mature oil fields, Indonesia's oil production has been declining, oil production in 2006 was 51.9 million tons, a decline of 5.3% compared with 2005, a decline of 27.4% compared with 2000.

Indonesia is the largest natural gas producer in Asia, with production of 74 billion m3 in 2006, up 0.3% from 2005, ranking eighth in the world.

The main oil and gas fields are the Minas and Duri fields located in the Central Sumatra oil and gas region, both of which are mature oil fields, with oil production declining year by year in recent years.

Coal In 2006, Indonesia's coal production was 205.4 million tons, ranking seventh in the world, of which 5,200 tons of anthracite and 153.4 million tons of lignite were produced.

Australia's BHP Billiton plans to develop the coal in the Haju district of Central Kalimantan, which will be put into operation in 2007 with an annual production capacity of 700,000 tons, and has invested 40 million U.S. dollars. The company has invested 40 million dollars. Japan's Kobe Steel and Indonesia's P.T. Arutmin signed an agreement to develop an underground coal mine in Asam-Asam, south of Kalimantan, with a planned investment of 68 million U.S. dollars, and the coal produced will be mainly used for exporting to the Japanese market, and is expected to be put into operation by the middle of 2009.

Copper Indonesia is an important copper producer in the world, in 2006, the mine copper production was 816,600 tons, down 23.3% from 2005, ranking fourth in the world after Chile, the United States and Peru. Refined copper production was 217,600 tons, down 17.2% from 2005, ranking 20th in the world.

Canada Asia Gold Mining Corporation and P.T. Harita Multi Karya Mining Corporation signed an agreement to jointly develop the Kaputusan porphyry copper-gold mine in the Marugi Islands, which is divided into two blocks covering an area of 25,771 m2, in which the Canada Asia Gold Mining Corporation owns an 85% interest, and which notified the results of the sampling of the copper mine in the north at 400 m and in the south at 150 m, respectively. The company announced the results of sampling at 400 m in the north and 150 m in the south, and the mineralized zone is 1.8 km long in the north and south.

Aluminum In 2006, Indonesia's refined aluminum production was 250,300,000 tonnes, which is the world's twelfth-largest. P.T. Antam Tbk plans to invest US$250 million to build a second aluminum plant on Bintan Island, with an annual capacity of 600,000 t. Construction is expected to begin in 2007, and the plant can be put into operation in 2009.

Gold Indonesia's gold production in 2006 was 79.6 t, down 42.6% from 2005, ranking ninth in the world.

Nickel In 2006, the output of nickel mines was 157,200 tons, an increase of 0.6% from 2005, ranking fourth in the world after Russia, Canada and Australia. Refined nickel production was 14,500 tons, an increase of 98.6% over 2005, ranking 18th in the world.

Britain's Rio Tinto plans to invest 1 billion U.S. dollars to develop a nickel mine in Sulawesi, which is expected to produce 46,000t of nickel annually and employ 5,000 workers. France's Eramet SA plans to invest US$1.5 billion to develop a nickel mine project in the Hamarhela Islands in northern Marugi province.

Tin Tin mine production in 2006 was 117,500t, down 2.1% from 2005, surpassing China in 2006 to become the world's top tin-producing country, and refining production was 77,400t, down 0.8% from 2005, ranking second in the world.

Indonesia's main mineral production is shown in Table 2.

Table 2 Indonesia's main mineral production

Source: ① World Metal Statistics, February 2008; ② USGS The Mineral Yearbook, 2006; ③ BP Statistical Review of World Energy, June 2007.

In 2006, Indonesia's energy consumption amounted to 114.3 million tons of oil equivalent, making it the sixth largest energy consumer in the Asia-Pacific region. Indonesia's primary energy consumption is dominated by oil and natural gas, accounting for 42.6% and 31.1%, respectively, followed by coal at 24.2%.

Indonesia's oil consumption in 2006 was 48.7 million tons, and due to the decline in oil production, Indonesia has become a net importer of oil since 2004 (Figure 1). Indonesia's natural gas consumption was 39.6 billion m3. The consumption of other major minerals is shown in Table 3.

Figure 1: Changes in Indonesia's Oil Production and Consumption

Table 3: Consumption of Major Mineral Products in Indonesia

Source: ① BP Statistical Review of World Energy, 2007; ② World Metal Statistics, February 2008 World Metal Statistics, February 2008.

III. Mineral Trade

Indonesia is an important mineral exporter in the world, and in 2006, Indonesia's exports of resource products such as coal, copper, natural gas, nickel, and tin increased significantly. 2006 Indonesia's trade and exports totaled US$101 billion, an increase of 14.5 percent from 2005. In 2006, the total value of Indonesia's trade exports amounted to 101.0 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 14.4% over 2005; the main export commodities are petroleum, natural gas, coal, copper, tin, nickel, power equipment, rubber, etc., of which mineral products accounted for 15.7%, and petroleum and natural gas accounted for 21.2%. The main trade exporting countries or regions are Japan, Singapore, the United States, China, South Korea and Taiwan. Trade imports totaled 61 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 9.1% over 2005; of which petroleum products accounted for 77%, the main trade importers are Singapore, China, Japan, South Korea and Malaysia.

Indonesia is an important oil exporter in Asia, with oil export revenues of US$15.33 billion in 2006, accounting for 15.6% of its total export revenues. 2006 oil exports amounted to 527,000 barrels per day (bpd), of which 301,300 bpd of crude oil was exported, with the main exports to Asia-Pacific, including 109,700 bpd from Japan, which accounted for 36.4% of crude oil exports, and 69,700 bpd from South Korea. 36.4%, South Korea was 62,100 bpd, accounting for 20.6% of crude oil exports, Australia was 50,400 bpd, accounting for 16.7% of crude oil exports, and the United States was 15,700 bpd, accounting for 5.2% of crude oil exports.

Indonesia is the world's second largest LNG exporter, with LNG exports of 29.57 billion m3 in 2006, accounting for 14.0% of the world's total LNG exports, mainly to Japan (18.60 billion m3), South Korea (6.72 billion m3), and Taiwan, China (4.25 billion m3).

Indonesia is an important coal exporter in the world, second only to Australia, the world's second-largest coal exporter, 70% of the coal production is used for export, the export volume of 162 million tons in 2006, an increase of 28.6% over 2005, mainly exported to Hong Kong, China, Japan, North Korea, and China Taiwan.

Indonesia is the world's important copper exporter, second only to Chile, the world's second largest copper exporter, in 2006, the export volume of 582,700 tons, accounting for 71.4% of its mine production, mainly exported to Japan, Spain, South Korea and India. Refined copper exports amounted to 110,900 tons, down 60.4% from 2005, ranking 17th in the world. Refined copper imports amounted to 17,700,000 t.

In 2006, Indonesia's nickel ore and concentrate exports amounted to 4,394,100 t (gross weight), mainly exported to Japan (2,067,500 t), Ukraine (726,200 t) and Australia (707,900 t).

In 2006, Indonesia's refined tin exports amounted to 112,900 tons, the world's largest exporter, mainly exported to Singapore (82,500 tons), the United Kingdom (13,300 tons), Malaysia (0.42 million tons), the United States (0.08 million tons) and other countries (12,200 tons).

In 2006, Indonesia imported 186.1 million tons of aluminum and exported 156.1 million tons.

In 2006, Indonesia imported 74.2 million tons of zinc ingots.

Fourth, the mining policy

Indonesia's constitution stipulates that mineral resources are owned by the state, and encourages domestic and foreign companies to invest in the mining industry. In order to attract foreign investment in the development of the country's economy, the Indonesian government as early as 1967 on the enactment of the Foreign Indonesian Investment Law, and continue to improve the investment environment, encourage foreign investment, and further simplify the procedures, reduce tariffs, foreign investment in Indonesia's economic development has played a catalytic role.

The Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM for short) is a non-official organization responsible for investment. By the President and directly responsible to the President, the Commission has a chairman, who also serves as the Minister of Investment.BKPM's function is to assist the President in the formulation of investment policies, investment approval permits, and supervise the implementation of investment projects. A foreign company can be established as a sole proprietorship, i.e. a foreign party may own 100% of the equity. The company is required to transfer part of its shareholding to an Indonesian individual or legal entity, either by direct sale or indirectly through the domestic stock exchange, within a business period of 15 years. Normally at least 5% is transferred to an Indonesian party. It is also stipulated that a foreign enterprise is granted a business period of 30 years from the time of its establishment, and if the amount of investment is increased (expansion of the investment project) during this period, another 30-year business period is granted for the expanded project. With regard to Indonesia's regulation of the areas in which foreign investment may enter, the 1967 Law on Foreign Investment is relatively simple, stipulating only the areas in which foreign investment is prohibited from taking up a full share (mainly in the areas of national livelihood): ports, public electricity, maritime transportation, telecommunications, aviation, drinking water, public **** railroads, atomic energy development and mass media. It is also stipulated that cooperation with the Government is required in the field of mining. The Government of Indonesia supplemented and revised the list of restricted and prohibited industries in Presidential Decree No. 31 of 1995, which was further amended and improved in 2000, and in March 2007, the Indonesian Parliament passed the new Investment Law formulated by the Government, which stipulates that domestic and foreign investors enjoy the same rights and benefits, except for the areas of national defense, arms, etc., and also stipulates preferential policies and facilitating services for investing enterprises. It also provides for preferential policies and facilitation services for investment enterprises.

In 2007, the Indonesian government also promulgated Regulation No. 1 of 2007, which stipulates that investment and capital increase enterprises in 15 categories of industries will be granted tax reduction and preferential policies of paying income tax in installments, with the corporate income tax reduced to 30% of the total investment amount, which can be paid in five years; and the income tax on the dividends of foreign-invested enterprises is reduced to 10%. In November 2007, the Indonesian government issued a Presidential Decision on Industrial Development, granting tax exemptions or reductions to 32 industries to promote their development and to obtain tax exemptions and reductions. The 32 types of industries that have been granted tax incentives are summarized in five categories, the first of which is the factory production category, which includes basic raw material industries such as iron ore mining and steel industry, cement industry, chemical products industry, and ceramic tiles industry.

In order to promote the development of the petroleum industry, Indonesia formulated and introduced the Oil and Gas Industry Law in 1960, and promulgated different petroleum decrees at different times, from the concession contract to the work contract to the production sharing contract system and joint operation production sharing contract system, and currently the main use of the production sharing contract form, the main content: Indonesia has the right to ownership of petroleum resources; foreign oil companies to undertake from exploration to exploitation, and the production sharing contract system. The main contents are: Indonesia has the ownership of oil resources; the foreign oil company bears all the costs from exploration, exploitation to operation and bears all the risks; the exploration period is 6 years, and two extensions of 2 years each can be applied for. Indonesia's crude oil production has been declining in recent years, and currently stands at 950,000 bpd, a decrease of 350,000 bpd from the 1.3 million bpd in 2001. In order to encourage investment in marginal areas and increase oil and gas extraction, in November 2007 the Indonesian government proposed to offer a more favorable product allocation program to companies that develop and exploit oil and gas blocks in deep sea and frontier areas, where these companies would receive 49% of the These companies will receive 49% of the production and the Indonesian government will receive 51%, compared to the current allocation of 15% and 30% for oil and gas companies respectively, and the government will also revise the provisions of the product allocation program to compensate for operating costs.

In order to further improve the investment environment, a joint working group of the Indonesian ministries of finance and home affairs in 2007 has abolished 1,276 local regulations that hindered investment, of which 135 were issued by the provincial government, 231 by municipal governments, and 910 by regency governments.

The new Mineral Law, which is under consideration by the Indonesian Parliament on April 15, 2008, will limit the mining area for mines with special mining licenses and exploitation licenses according to the minerals to be extracted, such as:

(1) Gold, tin: the area limit is 100,000 hm2 during the exploration period; and 25,000 hm2 during the exploitation period;

(2) Diamonds, gemstones: the area limit is 100,000 hm2 during the exploration period; and ) diamonds, gemstones: the area during exploration is limited to 25,000 hm2; the area during mining is limited to 5,000 hm2;

(3) coal: the area during exploration is limited to 50,000 hm2; the area during mining is limited to 15,000 hm2.

For mining companies with a mining agent's power of attorney, the area is limited to 1 hm2, depending on whether they are individually owned, corporately owned, or cooperatively owned, respectively. The area is limited to 1 hm2, 5 hm2 and 10 hm2 respectively.

V. Prospects

Indonesia is mainly exporting primary minerals, and in order to increase the income from mineral exports and prevent the price of tin from dropping, officials from the Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mines said that since 2008, the Indonesian central government has limited the amount of tin ingots exported from each province, and the export limit for the Bunga Belitung province, the largest tin-producing province, is 90,000 tons. The export limit of Bunga Beri, a major tin-producing province, is 90,000 t. At present, Indonesia's domestic demand for coal is more than 40 million t, and it is expected to reach 300 million t in 2015. In order to ensure the demand of the domestic market, Indonesia's government will limit the export of coal starting from 2010, with an export limit of 150 million t per year, and at present, Indonesia's annual export of coal is 145 million t.

April, 1950 China and Indonesia established diplomatic relations, which were severed in October 1967, and in August 1990 diplomatic relations were restored. Trade between China and Indonesia has developed relatively fast in recent years, and Indonesia has become China's fifth-largest trading partner in ASEAN, realizing a bilateral trade volume of 19 billion U.S. dollars in 2006.

Tango, a company formed by China's Shenzhen Zhongjin Lingnan Non-Ferrous Metals Company and Indonesia's Multi-Metals Company, has formally submitted a conditional takeover offer for the local Pioneer Zinc Mining Company. The offer indicates that Tongo is willing to acquire all of Pioneer Zinc's 202 million issued shares for A$2.50 per share, totaling about $448 million.

Herald Zinc is a mineral resources exploration and development company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, which engages in the exploration, development and investment of metals and gold mines, mainly in Indonesia and Australia.In fiscal 2007, the company reported a net loss of A$1.23 million on sales of A$6.31 million.

Key References

[1] Chin S Kuo.The Mineral Industry of Indonesia, USGS.Mineral Yearbook, 2006

[2] British Petroleum Company.BP Statistical Review of World Energy, London, June 2007

[3] Oil, gas reserves inch up, production steady in 2007.Oil & Gas Journal, Dec. 24, 2007

[4] 06 Charts Some Remarkable Finds..Http://www.Aapg.org/2006/01jan/discoveries.cfm

[5] Indonesia Country Analysis Brief, January 2007.http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/Angola/Background.html