Adani puts Galilee coal mine on hold pending recovery in coal price

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The Indian mining and energy giant Adani Enterprises appears to have put development of its massive and controversial $16 billion Carmichael coal mine in the Galilee Basin on hold – until coal prices show signs of a solid rebound. Which could be never.

A report from brooking house Axis Capital in India this week quotes Adani management as saying that no capital expenditure is planned by the company for the project until there is “visibility” of a rebound in the coal price.

Given that international coal prices are at record lows, and most analysts predict further falls as the commodity faces increased competition from renewables, and major economies turn away from coal due to environmental and climate impacts, it suggests that Adani accepts that the Galilee Basin may not get developed.

This is in complete contrast to the comments attributed by Adani to the Queensland government, where it is apparently trying to sound optimistic about its go-ahead, suggesting it could re-start works within months.

The Queensland Labor government this week gave environmental approval for the mine, despite massive concerns about its impact on the Great Barrier Reef and on climate targets.

An Adani spokesman was quoted by the Brisbane Courier-Mail as saying: “The company is in a position to resume some of the development and other works on its projects within months of a mining lease being granted.”

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However, the Axis Capital report (an excerpt of which appears above) quoted Adani management as saying that no capital expenditure is planned for the Galille Basin mine this financial year – and none would be likely in future without “visibility of revival in global coal prices.”

Given that the outlook for global coal prices is poor, this suggests that there will be no investment in Galilee, and underscores the difficulty it will have in attracting finance for a project that analysts says will not be economic.

Even the conservative International Energy Agency said late last year that it did not expect carmichael and other projects in the Galilee Basin to be built. “It is not likely that the above listed projects will be operational by 2020, if ever,” it said in its latest medium term coal outlook.

On the other hand, Adani’s solar projects are showing “significant progress.” The company is building the largest single-location solar project in India, a 648MW facility in Tamil Nadu. It already has a power purchase agreement in place.

Indian energy minister Piyush Goyal said last week that solar energy is now cheaper than coal, following recent auction results. This applies to domestic coal prices, and coal generation from imported coal, as proposed by Adani for the Galilee projects, is even more expensive.

One company, RattanIndia Power – a major private power generation company – said this week that it wants the Punjab government to approve the use of a 324-hectare site for a solar plant instead of a proposed coal plant. The economics of solar, the company stated, are better than that of coal.

In effect, it appears that Adani is telling brokers in India the reality of the state of the market, namely that it is impossible for it to get finance in the current economic climate.

As John Quiggin, from the University of Queensland, notes in Crikey today, there is a long list of banks and other funding sources that have announced that they won’t finance the project, or have pulled out of announced and existing finance arrangements.

This list list includes the Commonwealth Bank (formerly a big lender to Adani), NAB, the Queensland Treasury, the State Bank of India and global banks including Standard Chartered (another former big lender), Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole and Societe Generale.

The US and Korean Export-Import banks have been touted as possible sources, but they appear to have backed away, Quiggin says, adding that “even the Abbott-Turnbull $5 billion slush fund for northern Australia boondoggles, seen when it was announced as a rescuer for Adani, now appears unlikely.

“At the recent Northern Australia Investment Forum, the fund was the centre of attention, but Adani apparently didn’t get a mention, unless it was implicit in Minister for Resources, Energy and Northern Australia Josh Frydenberg’s claim that the government wouldn’t be investing in “white elephants”.

A comment is being sought from Adani’s spokesman in Australia.

Comments

8 responses to “Adani puts Galilee coal mine on hold pending recovery in coal price”

  1. Jacob Avatar
    Jacob

    Great news!

    I think Bloomberg and other experts could have told him that it is a money pit a few years ago.

    1. Mike Jubow Avatar
      Mike Jubow

      Sitting the background is the Indian Government policy brought in about 12 months ago that they wanted the government owned coal miner to up their production so that there were no more coal imports to India. It was a cost driven decision on the part of the government and Adani has been swimming against the current ever since. He has come to the realisation at last, so, between the lock out he faces with investment banks and the government policy, there is not much chance he will ever start the mine. Maybe he wants the macho boast of owning the biggest coal mine in the world that doesn’t earn any profit?

      1. Jacob Avatar
        Jacob

        I heard that he invested a lot in a port in QLD and wants to use it to export coal.

        But he would have just ended up throwing good money after bad.

        Maybe he wanted to kill some competing mines like the Saudis are trying to kill oil fracking in USA by crashing the price of oil.

        He definitely ignored the crash in solar PV prices.

  2. Ken Dyer Avatar
    Ken Dyer

    I just sent an email to my MP with the good news.

    You can too. email to:[email protected]

  3. Chris Andersen Avatar
    Chris Andersen

    This could prove a huge embarresment to the Qld Labor Party. They have trashed a huge chunk of support to no avail. No jobs and now a drop in voter support. Good one Anastasia!

  4. Geoff Avatar
    Geoff

    certainly good news but I wouldn’t count my chickens with this mob. I will count my chickens once they leave this country and write off it’s assets. go on adani – go solar all you want!
    now for anastasia – what a screw up she has been. she’ll be lucky to win the next election, that’s if she’s not booted out before then. her government has contributed to this mess, along with the liberals. next election, put someone in who knows what they’re doing – like Larissa Waters…

    1. Rob Avatar
      Rob

      Larissa has my vote!

  5. FIFO66 Avatar
    FIFO66

    The project is not on hold, this article is rubbish.

    Final approvals are being obtained, construction is due to commence in FY2017.

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