Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - The Ministry of Energy and Mineral\nResources (ESDM) has revealed that the approval process for Work Plans\nand Budgets (RKAB) for coal mining companies is nearly complete. The\ngovernment has currently approved coal RKAB volumes approaching 600\nmillion tonnes.<\/p>\n
The Director General of Mineral and Coal (Minerba) at the Ministry of\nESDM, Tri Winarno, explained that the RKAB approval process is now in\nits final stages. His office is awaiting several mining companies to\ncomplete missing administrative requirement documents.<\/p>\n
\u201cNearly finished. Yes, there are some that are not yet complete and\nso on, we\u2019re asking them to complete them, but it\u2019s almost done,\u201d Tri\nsaid when met at the Ministry of ESDM office in Jakarta, quoted on\nTuesday (7\/4\/2026).<\/p>\n
Tri elaborated that the accumulated approved coal production volume\nis steadily rising from the previous level of 580 million tonnes.<\/p>\n
\u201c(From 580 million tonnes) it\u2019s moving, it\u2019s approaching, almost\ndone. That\u2019s about it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Regarding the policy discourse on relaxing or easing coal production\nquotas previously mentioned by Energy Minister Bahlil Lahadalia, Tri\nconfirmed the plan for such \u201cmeasured relaxation.\u201d However, he\nemphasised that the government has not yet determined the technical\nmechanisms or implementation timeline for revising the RKAB.<\/p>\n
The government is being very cautious in increasing production quotas\nto avoid disrupting market balance. According to Tri, uncontrolled\nsupply additions risk triggering oversupply, which would ultimately\ndepress coal prices.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe mechanism isn\u2019t there yet. This is supply and demand; if supply\nbecomes excessive again, prices will drop,\u201d Tri explained.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, Tri assured that the allocation of coal for\ndomestic needs (Domestic Market Obligation\/DMO), particularly for PT PLN\n(Persero)\u2019s power plants, is in a very secure position. He stated that\nthe supply securing process is now at the contract finalisation\nstage.<\/p>\n
\u201cInsya Allah, it\u2019s safe. For now, it\u2019s just the contracts between PLN\nand those assigned the task,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n
Coal Targets<\/p>\n
For the coal sector, the government plans to reduce production in\n2026 to approximately 600 million tonnes. This figure represents a\ndecline of around 190 million tonnes compared to the 2025 production\nrealisation of 790 million tonnes.<\/p>\n
Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bahlil Lahadalia stated that\nthis production target cut is intended to drive coal prices back up and\npreserve coal reserves for the future.<\/p>\n
According to him, Indonesia supplies around 514 million tonnes of\ncoal, or 43% of the total global trade volume of 1.3 billion tonnes per\nyear. This situation is the root cause of falling coal prices.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a result, supply and demand are imbalanced, meaning coal prices\ndrop. Through this happy opportunity, the Ministry of ESDM has met with\nthe Director General of Minerba; we will revise the RKAB quotas. So, we\nwill lower our production to make prices good and save our mines for our\ngrandchildren,\u201d Bahlil said, quoted on Monday (19\/1\/2026).<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/nearly-complete-coal-rkab-approvals-reach-almost-600-million-tonnes-1775613246", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }