A reason to like sulfur

摘要

In the last three weeks two major long-term coal contracts have been signed for more than 100 million tons of coal, delivered over the next 10-15 years. First Energy has signed an agreement with Alliance Coal that will help it develop a pair of new Pittsburgh Seam mines, while AEP has signed up with Consol in a deal that has revived the company's expansion plans for the Shoemaker mine. The announcement of these contracts follows months of more general talk in both the coal and electric utility industries about the potential for new long-term contracts, with fuel supply security and cost management issues for both utilities and mining firms. But in both cases, utilities and coal mines emphasized that the new contract commitments and the new production were aimed at supplying newly scrubbed units at generating fleets, while the other benefits of long-term contracting were not mentioned.