 "Sutirtha Bhattacharya, Coal India")
After eyeing South Africa for coal blocks through a foreign joint venture, state-owned miner Coal India has now set its sights on Indonesian coal and is considering to enter that country.
The project, which will be a government-to-government deal, will be executed by Coal India’s subsidiary, Coal Videsh, with Indonesia’s state-owned miner. “We are in touch with the government-owned company in Indonesia,” Chairman of Coal India Sutirtha Bhattacharya said after the company’s annual general meeting.
Access to Indonesian assets will help Coal India get coal from there as Coal India has its own produce. This will reduce India’s coal import amount. India is a key market for Indonesian coal. Data from the commerce ministry showed India imported 23.40 million tonnes (mt) during April-June.
Recently, higher prices of seaborne coal prompted power plants to increase consumption of domestic coal, causing imports in the first half of the calendar year to drop by 13.1 per cent. The doubling of the volume-based clean-energy cess at Rs 400 (introduced in February 2016) increased demand for high caloric value coal, which resulted in South African imports rising 26 per cent and an one per cent increase in Australian imports; import of Indonesian coal declined by 22 per cent.
Coal India is also looking at Australia. “We are also keen over collaborations in Australia as well,” Bhattacharya said.
In South Africa, Coal India is keen to partner with the South African government-controlled African Exploration Mining and Corporation to float a joint venture that will collaborate in identification, acquisition, exploration, development and operation of assets. CIL board had approved signing a memorandum of understanding with African Exploration Mining. “However, the finer details are being worked out. We first need to look into the scope before narrowing down on any acquisitions,” a senior Coal India official said.
Coal India has allotted an initial amount of Rs 2 crore for its overseas operations, which also includes Mozambique.
Recently, after surrendering its two coal blocks allotted by the Mozambique government in August 2009, Coal Videsh has again approached the country’s government to allot other blocks. “This will not mean that we are quitting Mozambique. We have asked for alternative areas where mining could be done,” the official said.
