Northern Appalachia Q1 coal deliveries to US power plants fall 26% on year: EIA

Houston — Northern Appalachian coal deliveries to US power plants totaled 14.85 million st in the first quarter of 2020, down 20.4% from 18.65 million st in the final quarter of 2019 and down 26% from 20.06 million st in the year-ago period, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration.

March deliveries of NAPP coal to power plants totaled 4.54 million st, up 0.2% from February, but down 36% compared with the year-ago month, the data show.

Delivered costs averaged $51.86/st in Q1, compared with $51.19/st in Q4 and $55.94/st in the year-ago quarter, according to the EIA data.

NAPP coal deliveries in Q1 had an average heat content of 11,972 Btu/lb and an average sulfur content of 5 lb SO2/MMBtu, compared with 12,047 Btu/lb and 5 lb SO2/MMBtu a year earlier.

TERM AND SPOT PURCHASES FALL, NEW CONTRACT DELIVERIES RISE

Contract deliveries, or purchases with a term of one year or longer, totaled 12.92 million st in Q1, down from 16.98 million st in Q4 and 17.56 million st in the year-ago quarter.

Spot purchases, or contract deliveries of less than one year, also fell to 1.18 million st in the latest quarter from 1.63 million st in Q4 and 1.81 million st a year earlier.

New contract purchases totaled 754,555 st in Q1, up from 38,629 st in Q4 and 692,072 st in the year-ago quarter, the data show. The majority of the new contract coal, or 77%, came from Consol Energy.

Barge deliveries fell to 7.35 million st in Q1 from 8.69 million st in Q4 and 9.07 million st a year earlier. Rail deliveries fell to 4.42 million st from 6.18 million st in Q4 and 7.28 million st in Q1 2019.

Over 1.77 million st was delivered by truck in Q1, down from 1.93 million st in the prior quarter and 2.04 million st in the year-ago quarter, while 1.31 million st was moved by conveyor, down from 1.84 million st in Q4 and 1.68 million st a year ago.

Mines in the West Virginia segment of Northern Appalachia delivered 6.02 million st of coal to power plants in Q1, down from 7.53 million st in Q4 and 9.69 million st in the year-ago quarter. Pennsylvania's mines delivered 6 million st of coal to the generation sector in the latest quarter, down from 7.52 million st in Q4 and 7.6 million st a year earlier.

Ohio coal mines shipped 2.4 million st to power plants, down from 3.02 million st in Q4, but up from 2.34 million st in Q1 2019, while Maryland coal mine deliveries totaled 428,575 st, down from 580,022 st in Q4 and 435,445 st a year earlier.

CONSOL'S BAILEY MINE REMAINS LARGEST SUPPLYING MINE

Consol Energy's Bailey mine remained the largest supplier of NAPP coal to power plants in Q1, shipping nearly 3.34 million st, down from 4.74 million st in Q4 and 3.81 million st a year ago.

The Gavin Power Plant in Gallia County, Ohio, remained the top delivery point for NAPP coal. The 2.6 GW plant took delivery of 1.66 million st in Q1, down from 1.82 million st in Q4, but up from 1.33 million st in Q1 2019.