JAKARTA: Indonesia’s abrupt easing of a three-year ban on nickel ore exports will not flood the global market but instead is aimed at balancing the country’s smelters and creating job opportunities at mines, top mining officials said on Saturday.
Indonesian mines may export up to 5.2 million tons of nickel ore a year under the country’s new rules, the mining minister said, only a fraction of its shipments when it was once a top global supplier of the stainless steel material.
Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Ignasius Jonan’s comment came after an industry backlash over the government’s decision on Thursday to lift a ban on the export of nickel ore and bauxite under certain conditions.
Nickel prices and the shares of companies that had heavily invested in smelters tumbled after the news, as analysts said the resumption of nickel ore exports from Indonesia could wreck the global prices of the commodity.
Senior mining officials defended the new rules, saying that the amount of nickel ore that can be exported must correspond to the miners’ smelter capacity and that it will be “comparable.”
“It is not like they build small smelters and export as much as they can. No, we are going to regulate that,” Arcandra Tahar, deputy mining minister, told reporters.
The government banned the export of nickel ore and bauxite in 2014 in order to spur higher-value processing of mineral ores. A year before the ban kicked in, Indonesia exported around 60 million tons of nickel ore.
The ban cost Southeast Asia’s biggest economy billions of dollars in lost revenue and led to job losses, as many mines laid off their workers.
The Philippines took Indonesia’s crown as the world’s top nickel ore exporter, accounting for around one-quarter of the world’s mined nickel supply, although its government has since restricted output due to environmental concerns.
‘Indonesia will not flood nickel market’
‘Indonesia will not flood nickel market’
Egypt signs energy MoUs with Syria, expanding regional supply role
JEDDAH: Egypt has signed two memorandums of understanding with Syria to supply natural gas for electricity generation and provide petroleum products, as Cairo moves to strengthen its position as a regional energy transit hub.
According to Egypt’s petroleum ministry, the agreements were signed during talks between its Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Karim Badawi and a Syrian delegation led by Deputy Minister of Energy for Oil Affairs Ghiath Diab.
The deals were formalized by Diab and Mohamed El-Bagoury, head of legal affairs at the Egyptian ministry.
The agreements come as Egypt seeks to capitalize on its liquefied natural gas plants, pipelines and floating regasification units to position itself as a regional energy hub.
Syria’s energy sector has been severely weakened by years of conflict and damaged infrastructure, prompting redevelopment efforts and regional cooperation which underscores the importance of external partnerships in rebuilding the country’s power and oil networks.
“The meeting reflects Egypt’s role as a regional logistics hub for all types of energy, both fossil and non-fossil,” the ministry said in a statement, reaffirming its readiness to provide technical expertise and support to Syria’s energy sector as part of efforts to assist the Syrian people.
Under the first MoU, Egypt will cooperate in supplying gas to Syria for power generation, using its existing infrastructure, including regasification vessels and transmission networks.
The second agreement relates to meeting the country’s needs for petroleum products.
The meeting also discussed opportunities to rehabilitate Syria’s oil and gas infrastructure and benefit from Egyptian expertise in the sector.
The deals with follow recent energy cooperation with Lebanon and earlier arrangements with Cyprus aimed at routing Eastern Mediterranean gas through Egypt’s facilities.
Speaking at the ADIPEC conference in Abu Dhabi in November, Badawi highlighted Egypt’s growing role as a regional hub for energy transit and trade, supported by fully integrated and ready infrastructure.
He said this demonstrated the country’s ability to provide a fast, cost-effective and reliable route for delivering East Mediterranean gas resources to global markets at competitive prices.
Badawi cited plans to connect Cyprus’s Cronos gas field to Egypt’s network as a key step toward deeper regional integration, allowing current and future Cypriot discoveries to be processed through Egyptian liquefaction and export facilities.
