中文
Banpu Plc, Thailand's biggest coal mine operator, is in talks with industry peers in Indonesia on possible mergers and acquisition (M&A) deals to help increase its long-term coal reserves, Bangkok Post reported on August 17, citing deputy chief executive Somyot Ruchirawat as said.
The talks are part of a plan to acquire coal mines near Banpu's existing Bharinto and Trubaindo operations in Kalimantan, Borneo.
According to Mr Somyot, most of the mines are yet to be opened, and still need more funding to get operations off the ground, creating M&A opportunities for Banpu.
Banpu's Bharinto operations generate 2.5 million tonnes of coal annually, while 5.2 million tonnes are extracted at Trubaindo.
"If we can seal the merger deals, they will also help cut production and operating costs for Banpu," said Somyot.
The capital expenditure prepared for the M&A deals is not included in the company's annual capex outlays, he said. Banpu is also planning to increase its coal reserves by drilling deeper at its existing mines in Indonesia.
Although expanding those mines would tack on US$8/t in production costs, he said the investment costs are worth it, as global coal prices are high. The company aims to boost its reserves from 13 years to 15 years.
While those potential M&A deals are being worked out in Indonesia, Banpu will also increase coal production at its Airly and Myuna mines in Australia.
The company aims to increase production at Airly to 1.8 million tonnes by 2019, up from 800,000 tonnes at present. Likewise, Banpu aims to raise production at Myuna to 2.3 tonnes in 2018, up from 1.8 million tonnes, he said.
For the company's midstream coal business, chief executive Somruedee Chaimongkol said Banpu is planning to increase business revenue from this segment by blending and mixing several grades of coal to serve rising demand.
For its downstream business, Banpu successfully listed its subsidiary, Banpu Power Plc (BPP) in October last year. BPP aims to increase its power generating capacity to 4,300 megawatts by 2025, up from 2,057MW currently.
(Writing by Becky Du Editing by Harry Huo)
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