"Coal can currently be exported from any loading point, which makes it difficult for us to control," Edi Prasodjo, the coal director at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, said in an interview at an industry meeting in Bali on Monday. "We're discussing restricting exports in the future to certain ports or shipping points to avoid illegal deliveries."

Most Indonesian miners use barges to ship coal over a network of rivers before loading the fuel into bigger vessels. There are 56 million metric tons of coal production annually that can't be verified, resulting in potential losses to the state of as much as Rp 5.5 trillion (US$493 million), according to a Sept. 9 study by the Indonesian Coal Mining Association.

The government should oversee coal terminals and transportation facilities, Edi said in a separate presentation in Bali. The government is still studying whether the planned policy would include private terminals, he said. Companies such as PT Bumi Resources, Indonesia's largest coal producer, and PT Adaro Energy have their own terminals and trans-shipment points to move coal.

Indonesia may produce 391 million tons this year, rising from 386 million tons in 2012, according to Edi.

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