Consol Energy Inc. announced that it is spinning off its remaining coal assets into a separate publicly traded company so it can focus exclusively on natural gas production, Jamison Cocklin reports for Natural Gas Intel's Shale Daily. The company, former known as Consolidation Coal, said in February that it would get out of the coal business by selling or spinning off is coal assets.
The new coal company, which will drop the Consol name, may go public as early as October of this year. Assets will include the Pennsylvania Mining Complex, a coal export terminal in Baltimore, undeveloped coal reserves in Appalachia and the Illinois Basin, and an ownership interest in CNX Coal Resources LP, Cocklin notes. Consol CEO Nicholas Deluliis will continue as head of the new gas-only firm; Jimmy Brock, who leads Consol's coal division, will be CEO of the new company.
Consol's coal production has waned in recent years, but gas production increased more than 20 percent from 2015 to 2016, and the company has many prospective sites still to explore, Cocklin reports. It has sold off billions of dollars in coal assets over the past five years, encouraged by investors who believe they will see greater profits when Consol focuses only on natural gas.
The new coal company, which will drop the Consol name, may go public as early as October of this year. Assets will include the Pennsylvania Mining Complex, a coal export terminal in Baltimore, undeveloped coal reserves in Appalachia and the Illinois Basin, and an ownership interest in CNX Coal Resources LP, Cocklin notes. Consol CEO Nicholas Deluliis will continue as head of the new gas-only firm; Jimmy Brock, who leads Consol's coal division, will be CEO of the new company.
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| Consol coal profits have sunk while natural-gas profits have risen. (Shale Daily chart) |
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