Shenhua Energy Co. Ltd, the largest coal producer in China, is actively searching for opportunities to expand its coal production to overseas countries, in particular to Mongolia, Indonesia and Australia.
The company is planning to bid $4 billion for a stake in Indonesia's second largest coal producer PT Adaro, which is also the world's largest thermal coal exporter. The company is estimated to have deposits of some 40 billion mt of coal and is aiming to mine 218 million mt of coal in 2008.
Furthermore, Shenhua is also holding negations with a coking coal mine in Mongolia's Ömnögovi province, only 100 kilometers away from China. Shenhua is hoping to extract over 10 million mt of coking coal per annum from this mine if its acquisition from the Mongolian government is successful.
Shenhua officials are also looking for investment opportunities in Australia, the details of which have not been announced yet.
Shenhua Energy sold 171.1 million tons of coal in 2006, 23.9 million mt of which was for export.
In 2007, China's coal production is expected to exceed 2.6 billion mt, up around 10 percent year on year.