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India’s NALCO short of coal but operations normal
Posted by Yogesh on Tuesday, 19 August, 2008
BHUBANESWAR, India, Aug 19 – India’s National Aluminium Co Ltd is again facing coal shortages which could disrupt output at its units if supplies worsen, although operations are currently normal, top company officials said.
State-run NALCO, India’s second biggest aluminium producer, has been plagued by coal shortages in recent months and a company official said it was planning to import 330,000 tonnes of coal, of which nearly half was already ordered.
“We are not able to keep minimum coal stocks,” NALCO Chairman and Managing Director C.R. Pradhan told Reuters on Tuesday.
Its alumina refinery at Damanjodi in the eastern state of Orissa resumed normal production of 4,500 tonnes a day early this month after output was halved in late July because of a coal shortage.
“In Damanjodi we need to keep coal stocks of about 50,000 tonnes but we have at present only 15,000 tonnes,” Pradhan said.
In June, NALCO was forced to shut down one of the seven power units that feed its smelter in Angul due to lack of coal.
Source Reuters
