Coal news and updates

Coal block auctions: AV Birla, Vedanta, Adani in shortlist of 134

Two of 23 blocks to be dropped after Jabalpur High Court orders removal

Anil Ambani’s Reliance Geothermal, Shashi Ruia’s Essar Power, Gautam Adani’s Adani Power, and Anil Agarwal’s Sesa Sterlite are among the companies that have been shortlisted to participate in financial bidding for 23 coal blocks being put up for sale in the first phase of auctions.

The auctions will start on February 14. Coal Secretary Anil Swarup said 134 bidders have been short-listed out of the 176 who had made technical bids.

Of the 134, 48 bidders are for the seven blocks reserved for the power sector and 86 are for the 16 blocks kept for the non-regulated sector.

The highest number of bids was made by the Kumar Mangalam Birla-led Aditya Birla Group, with Hindalco (15) and UltraTech Cement (6) putting in 21 bids for 8 blocks.

Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta Group has made 17 bids through Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd (Balco) and Sesa Sterlite Ltd.

Reliance Geothermal, which is bidding for a coal block for its Rosa Thermal Power Plant in Uttar Pradesh, is keen on the Amelia (North) and Gare Palma IV/2 & 3 blocks. These blocks have 261.17 million tonnes in reserves.

Adani Power is interested in six of the seven blocks that are reserved for the power sector.

Gare Palma tops

The highest number of short-listed bidders is for the Gare Palma IV/7 block, with 60.47 million tonnes of reserves, which belonged to Sarada Energy and Mining. Twelve technical bidders have been short-listed for the block, with two bids each from Bharat Aluminium Company, two from Hindalco, four from Jindal Steel and Power, and one each from Jaiprakash Associates, Monnet Ispat & Energy, Rungta Mines, and UltraTech Cement.

Marki Mangli I block got the fewest bids and will see only Sunflag Iron and Steel and Topworth Urja Metals battle it out. The block has around 20.64 million tonnes of reserves. While the numbers announced were for all 23 blocks, Swarup said bids for Gotitoria East and West will stand cancelled following a Jabalpur High Court order.

Source: The Hindu BusinessLine