Shenhua gets nod to develop 13Bt Inner Mongolia mine

Mar 7, 2011

Shenhua Energy, the listed company of China’s top producer, has gained approval from the National Development and Reform Commission to develop a coal mine in North China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region, the company announced in a statement late Mar 4.

As a large untapped coalfield, Xinjie Taigemiao mining area, located in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, is estimated to hold 13 billion tonnes coal reserves, Huaxi Metropolis reported.

The mining area, adjacent to Shendong mining area, will be constructed as a modern coal mine with annual output of 100 million tonnes commercial coal, according to the statement

Pre-exploration work is undergoing, the company said.(sourced:en.sxcoal)

China gives environmental nod to Sasol CTL project

Mon Mar 7, 2011 5:21am GMT

BEIJING (Reuters) - China granted initial environmental approval to an $8.8 billion project by South African petrochemical firm Sasol and China's top coal producer Shenhua Group to turn coal into fuels.

The environmental clearence put the project, potentially one of the largest foreign investments in China, a step closer to final approval from the top economic steering body, the National Development & Reform Commission (NDRC), after nearly a decade of talks between the two companies.

The project, to be built in north China's Ningxia region, plans to make 3.16 million tonnes of diesel and 655,500 tonnes of naphtha a year, according to a post published on the website of China's Ministry of Environmental Protection (www.mep.gov.cn).

After backing coal-to-liquid (CTL) investments as a way of improving energy security and easing its growing dependence on foreign oil, China went cold on the technology in 2008, cancelling dozens of projects amid concerns about high costs and the impact it would have on scarce local water supplies.

The country's massive coal industry has also been developing its own coal liquefying technology, which has become a drag for the government to rush approving projects like this one by Sasol, which emerged from discussions with Shenhua back in 2000.

"The Chinese government obviously favours domestically grown technology when its comes to approvals, given that Shenhua already started a similar plant based on pure Chinese know-how," said a Beijing-based oil industry official.

Shenhua Group, parent of Shenhua Energy Co Ltd, has built its first CTL plant in the northern Inner Mongolia region expected to reach 3 million tonnes a year by 2015.

"It seems a big reason why the project got the final go-ahead was the potential for technology transfer from Sasol to Shenhua. Its a very important consideration given how new this sector is in China," said Shi Sijin, an analyst at Hawker Capital.

But Shi said the approval shouldn't be interpreted to mean Beijing is shifting its cautious position on the sector and that the Chinese government is unlikely to encourage more CTL projects.

Sasol CEO Pat Davies told analysts in December that the firm was expecting a positive outcome from the Chinese government early this year and hoped to make the investment decision during this calendar year. (sourced:Thomson Reuters)

Tags : CTL, coal liquefying technology, Hawker Capital, coal, coal to liquids project

Australia Whitehaven bids due Wednesday, some suitors drop out -sources

Wed Feb 2, 2011 6:00am GMT
SYDNEY Feb 2 (Reuters) - Australia's Whitehaven Coal expects to receive non-binding offers from Chinese, Indian and Korean parties but several potential suitors have dropped out of the process as bidders raise concern about price, sources said on Wednesday.
Indicative bids for Whitehaven which put itself up for auction in October, were due on Wednesday, the sources said. Whitehaven is valued at about $3.5 billion at current share prices.
However, China's Yanzhou Coal Mining Co and major shareholder Alpha Natural Resources were not expected to lodge bids, two sources familiar with the matter said.
Whitehaven declined to comment.
Whitehaven has declined to name the parties it has been talking to but U.S. miner Peabody Energy and China's state-run Shenhua Group were expected to bid. There was interest from a number of Indian, Chinese and Korean bidders, one source said. (Reporting by Michael Smith; Editing by Ed Davies,sourced:Thomson Reuters)

China sells thermal coal cargo into S Korea at $142/T FOB

China's top coal producer China Shenhua Energy Co Ltd has sold a February-loading thermal coal shipment to a South Korean buyer at $142 per tonne on a free-on-board (FOB) basis, two sources with knowledge of the deal said on Jan 10.

The deal, sealed mid-last week, was for coal with a heating value of 5,800 kcal/kg, said the sources, who asked not to be identified because it was a commercially sensitive issue.
The sale comes as a devastating flood hit Australia's eastern Queensland state, knocking out an estimated 3-4.5 million tonnes of global thermal coal exports and prompting many South Korean and Japanese utilities to scour the market for alternative supplies.

News via Reuters, Jan10 ,2011