Consol Energy Posts Record Income

By Anonymous

Despite lower coal production, Consol Energy posted record income for 2005. The company’s net income nearly tripled to $580.9 million on sales of $3.81 billion, compared with 2004.

J. Brett Harvey, Consol Energy’s president and chief executive officer, said record production at several of the company’s coal mines offset lost production from the Buchanan Mine. That mine was closed for several months due to a skip hoist problem. Lost production there amounted to about 2.2 Mt (2.5 million st) of metallurgical coal. The mine resumed production in December 2005.

For the fourth quarter of 2005, Consol Energy’s net income rose by 29.4 percent to $87.6 million, compared with the same period in 2004. Coal production during that time, however, decreased to 16 Mt (17.7 million st) from 2004′s 17.4 Mt (19.2 million st). That was attributed in part to the lost production from the Buchanan Mine.

Coal sales during the fourth quarter of 2005 dropped to 15.8 Mt (17.5 million st) from 16.9 Mt (18.7 million st) during the same period in 2004.

Consol Energy said the average realized price for its coal production during the fourth quarter of 2005 increased by 14.4 percent, or $5.04/t ($4.58/st) and $6.11/t ($5.55/ st) for the year. The company said it expects that its average realized price for 2006 production would be $41.15/t ($37.34/st), $41.87/t ($37.99/st) in 2007, $44.47/t ($40.35/ st) in 2008 and $45.11/t ($40.93/st) in 2009.

Copyright Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc. Mar 2006