Coal news and updates

Coal stocks at power units fall sharply, at 7-mt levels

October 17: Coal stocks at 103 thermal power plants (TPS) in India fell further by almost 6.49% as on October 15 compared to that recorded on October 7 and dipped to almost 7 million tons (mt) mainly due to lower supplies from Coal India Ltd (CIL), according to data released by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA).

Coal stocks at the 103 TPS stood at 7.099 mt on October 15, down from 7.592 mt recorded on October 7 at the 100 power plants, a figure which was also down from 8.299 mt recorded on September 29 at 104 power plants, data showed.

Coal stocks at power plants have been falling consistently in recent months after touching a high of more than 20 mt in February-March, 2013.

On September 23, coal stocks at 104 power plants stood at 8.866 mt while the same stood at 9.081 mt on September 15.

However, in terms of days, there were coal stocks worth 5 days both on October 15 and October 7 as well as on September 29, down from 6 days stocks as on September 15, data revealed.

The change in the overall coal stocks situation also affected the number of plants facing a critical coal stocks situation of less than four days, the CEA data revealed.

The number of plants facing critical coal stocks position of less than seven days stood much higher at 64 on October 15, 59 on October 7, 56 on September 29, 57 on September 23 as compared to 53 plants facing a similar fate on September 15, as per data made available by CEA.

The number of plants facing a super-critical coal stocks scenario of less than four days stood at 36 on October 15, 38 on October 7, 33 on September 29, 35 on September 23 while on September 15, a total of 31 plants faced a similar situation.