Coal news and updates

NTPC planning to buy 5.0 mt coal under MoU from ECL

July 2: NTPC Ltd is believed to be working on entering into Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Eastern Coalfields Ltd (ECL), a subsidiary of Coal India Ltd (CIL) to procure upto 5.0 million tons (mt) of coal annually at slightly higher cost, according to information available with ICMW.

NTPC already has an agreement with ECL to procure 5.0 mt of coal through MoU route.

“Power Minister Piyush Goyal, who is also the Coal Minister, had recently shown interest in NTPC getting domestic coal through MoU in order to keep its import at lower levels and save foreign exchange,” an official said.

Confirming the development, a senior official of ECL said, “Power Ministry has shown the interest. We have sought permission from CIL to go ahead with this.”

“We have informed Director (Marketing) of CIL and once we get the permission, we will sign MoU with NTPC for another 5.0 mt coal supply,” the official added.

“We can afford to supply additional coal to NTPC under MoU because we will be in a position to produce higher quantity of coal in 2014-15 and in coming years. We will also earn additional revenue by supplying coal through MoU route as the price of coal supplied through MoU route is about 30% higher compared to notified price,” the official of ECL added.