CIL eyes overseas buyouts to bridge supply gap

Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal today said state-run coal major Coal India (CIL) is looking to acquire coal blocks in the US and other countries to meet the rising energy need of the country.

"CIL is pursuing its foreign venture initiatives with various countries, including the US, to acquire coal mines/ blocks abroad, develop and produce coal from such mines in order to import coal, with a view to securing the energy needs of the country," Jaiswal informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

The largest coal producer, which had floated a global expression of interest (EoI) in August, has shortlisted 12 global mining firms for possible partnerships and is mulling floating a tender soon to choose a partner from them.

Global mining giants like the Anglo-Australian Rio Tinto, the US-based Peabody Energy and the Indonesian Buma Resources are understood to be among the shortlisted companies, which were filtered out of about over 50 firms that had shown interest in partnering with CIL.

"As part of this initiative, CIL has floated a global EoI for selecting strategic partners with the objective of, inter alia, taking stakes in operating mines or greenfield projects of the strategic partners and jointly exploring opportunities for acquiring coal resources in various countries, including the US," Jaiwal added.