CIL gets 18 tenders from international companies

Thursday, 23 Jun 2011

State-run Coal India Ltd has got 18 tenders from international companies for long term thermal coal offtake agreements.

The Maharatna company will shortlist and strike a deal from this based on the price and quantity of coal to be supplied within five months.

Mr NC Jha CMD of CIL said that "CIL has got 18 proposals to import about 360 million tonnes of coal for a period of 10 years. We will shortlist from these, once we finalize the price and the quantity of coal to be imported. It is expected to happen within five months.”

The world's largest coal producer and India's second largest company in terms of market capitalization had invited expressions of interest from global companies at a discounted price for long term offtake agreements early this year. It received 27 proposals from 16 companies and later the PSU had sent them requests for proposal and they were advised to give proposals on quality and quantity of coal to be supplied. The last date to submit bids was May 25.

Mr Jha added that "The deal would be to import coal from four countries South Africa, Australia, Indonesia and the United States," Jha added. Though he refused to reveal further details about the proposals, an official close to the development said the proposals included some of the global coal giants.

According to reports, the companies which submitted the EoIs included Rio Tinto, Xstrata, Peabody, Massey Energy and Sinarmas. (sourced from Business Standard)