Malaysia sees dramatic increase in coal demand

Malaysian coal consumption is predicted to grow almost fivefold from 4 million tons this year to 19 million tons in 2008 onward when three coal-fired power generations will become onstream.

?In 2002 and 2003, the 2100- MW Janamanjung coal fired power plant in Malacca Strait will come onstream with coal consumption of 6 million tons per annum,? said Noor Asihin Bin Surani, Manager of TNB Fuel Services Sdn. Bhd., a logistic company that handles coal procurement monopoly for Malaysia?s coal fired power plants. Janamanjung power plant is operated by Malaysia?s state electricity company Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB).

?In 2006 and 2007 two more coal-fired power plants; the 2100- MW Tanjung Bin power plant in Western Johor and the 1400MW Jimah power plant in Negeri Sembilan. Coal requirement for Tanjung Bin will be around 5.7 million tons per annum while Jimah will require 3.5 million per annum,? Surani told participants at Coaltrans conference in Bali.

Tanjung Bin power plant is operated by SKS Ventures Sdn. Bhd., while Jimah is developed by Jimah Power Holdings Sdn. Bhd, both of which are independent power producers.

Currently, Malaysia has Kapar-1 and Kapar-2 coal-fired power plants, which consume 4 million tons of coal annually. Both plants with combined capacity of 1600 MW is operated by TNB.

Surani said currently 30 percent of Malaysia?s coal requirement is supplied from Indonesia sources.

An industry source at the conference told Petromindo.Com that TNB is now aggressively seeking contract with Indonesian coal suppliers to secure it future coal requirement, as Indonesia is considered to be able to deliver the cheapest coal price due to location proximity.

TNB is also known to aggressively seeking for equity participation in Kalimantan based coal mining companies. (alex)