Peabody Energy News

Energy trader Vitol and coal miner Peabody Energy are partnering with start-up Arq to turn coal waste into a low-sulphur oil product that could be an alternative fuel for shippers as new U.N. pollution rules loom, the companies said in a statement.Global oil and shipping companies are looking at any and all options to avoid becoming a casualty of the major market dislocations that the new standards will create when they come into effect in 2020.The U.N. International Maritime Organization (IMO) will ban ships using fuel with a sulphur content higher than 0.5 percent…

U.S. coal exports have jumped more than 60 percent this year due to soaring demand from Europe and Asia, according to a Reuters review of government data, allowing President Donald Trump's administration to claim that efforts to revive the battered industry are working. The increased shipments came as the European Union and other U.S. allies heaped criticism on the Trump administration for its rejection of the Paris Climate Accord, a deal agreed by nearly 200 countries to cut carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels like coal. The previously unpublished figures provided to Reuters by the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed exports of the fuel from January through May totaled 36.79 million tons, up 60.3 percent from 22.94 million tons in the same period in 2016.

Most of the U.S. coal industry doubts Donald Trump can fulfill his promise to make the ailing industry great again in a country awash in dirt-cheap natural gas, a competing fuel. But a small sub-section of the coal sector that mines metallurgical coal - a variety used by steel makers instead of power plants - is gearing up for a Trump-inspired boom. That's because the Republican president-elect has promised a spending surge for roads, bridges and tunnels after he takes office on Jan. 20, a push to upgrade America's infrastructure with the support of leading Democrats that could jolt demand for metallurgical coal from American steel mills. Prices for met coal, as it is called, have already risen in recent months on lower supply from China.

Australian mining giant BHP Billiton pulled a $500 million debt refinancing plan at one of Australia's biggest coal export terminals after banks were reluctant to lend to the sector, said three sources with knowledge of the process. The decision earlier this month sets back efforts to simplify complex debt arrangements at the Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Group (NCIG) project and stalls BHP's plan to release cash tied up in the terminal as it looks to strengthen its balance sheet amid a global commodities slump. It also underscores the plight of the industry in trying to attract financing from lenders wary of coal's commercial outlook and contribution to climate change.

Australia's Newcastle port, the world's biggest marine coal export terminal, will reopen later on Thursday after shutting down earlier this week due to a heavy storm, according to the port. Australia's biggest coal companies, including BHP Billiton Ltd , Glencore Plc, Rio Tinto , Peabody Energy Corp and China's Yancoal Australia Ltd rely on the port. (Reporting by Sonali Paul

Coal port shut since Monday night; seven coal ships waiting to leave, ship queue undisclosed. MELBOURNE, April 22 (Reuters) - Australia's Newcastle port, the world's biggest coal export port, has stopped all ship movements due to a cyclonic storm lashing the country's east coast, a port spokeswoman said on Wednesday. "Due to the weather event, no shipping movements occurred yesterday and port operations also paused," the spokeswoman said. Seven coal ships are waiting to leave the port, four from terminals operated by Port Waratah Coal Services and three from a terminal run by Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Group (NCIG). The port operators declined to comment on how many coal ships were waiting offshore to pick up their cargoes from the port…

It’s a spectacularly atrocious time for U.S. coal companies. Demand for coal domestically is not what it was—and likely never will be—so producers have cast their gaze abroad, where they hope Asian markets respond as domestic ones fail. It’s a long shot, though, because there’s too much supply and too little demand, and the strong U.S. dollar continues to keep exports of all kinds less competitive. The issue is magnified in the Pacific Northwest, where proponents of big coal-export projects have faltered time and again in their attempts to advance an ambitious if ill-advised agenda.

U.S. coal companies will no longer be able to settle royalties at low domestic prices when they make lucrative sales to Asia according to reforms proposed by the Interior Department on Friday. American taxpayers by law are due a 12.5 percent royalty on the sales of millions of tons of coal pulled each year from federal land that mining companies lease. In past years of strong global demand, U.S. miners have been able to avoid a royalty hit on lucrative exports by first selling to affiliated traders at low domestic prices. The reforms proposed on Friday will update rules on how energy companies settle their royalty payments on coal, oil and gas pulled from federal land but the changes to the coal program may have the biggest impact.

The coal price slump that brought Australian tycoon Nathan Tinkler down last year has also sown the seeds for his comeback, with the former electrician snapping up a closed coal mine from Peabody Energy for next to nothing. Tinkler's Singapore-based firm Bentley Resources agreed to buy the Wilkie Creek mine from Peabody for $70 million in cash, plus the assumption of $60 million in various obligations and liabilities, in a deal announced on Tuesday. The sale came as a surprise to bankers and analysts, who knew that Peabody had wanted well over $500 million for the mine when it was put on the block two years ago. After failing to attract a buyer…

The U.S. Supreme Court handed President Barack Obama a victory on Tuesday by upholding a federal environmental regulation requiring some states to limit pollution that contributes to unhealthy air in neighboring states. By a 6-2 vote, the court said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency acted reasonably in requiring 28 states to reduce emissions from coal-fired power plants of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which can lead to soot and smog. Writing for the majority, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg called the EPA rule a cost-effective way to allocate responsibility for emission reductions among upwind states, and that the EPA need not consider each state's proportionate responsibility for the emissions in question.

Rowan Companies, Inc. (NYSE: RDC) announced that, effective January 1, 2009, its Board of Directors has named W. Matt Ralls as the company's new President, Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors, succeeding D.F. McNease, who announced his retirement in late October 2008. Mr. Ralls, 59, most recently served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of GlobalSantaFe Corporation, an international contract drilling company, from June 2005 until the completion of the merger of GlobalSantaFe with Transocean, Inc. in November 2007. Prior to that time Mr. Ralls served as Senior Vice President and CFO of GlobalSantaFe. He joined Global Marine, Inc.

General Maritime Corp., a crude oil shipping company, raised $144 million by selling 8 million shares in an initial public offering, the latest in a spate of energy companies to go public. New York-based General Maritime priced shares on Tuesday at $18 each, the middle of its expected range of $17 to $19 a share. Shares are expected to begin trading on Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange under the trading symbol GMR. The company, which operates a fleet of oil tankers in the Atlantic basin, intends to use the proceeds to reduce debt and fund operations. he IPO, which was underwritten by joint bookrunners Lehman Brothers and ABN Amro Rotschild, was co-managed by Jefferies & Co.