Australia scales back Queensland coal port expansion
Australia's coal producing state of Queensland has scaled back plans for a multi-billion dollar expansion of Abbot Point coal port because the initial proposal was "unrealistic and undeliverable," the state's deputy premier announced Monday, Reuters reports.
Under a new proposal, construction of a second and third termainal would proceed, but plans to expand to a total of nine te rminals would be abandoned. The revision follows the election in March of a new conservative state government in Queensland, home to the coal producing Bowen Basin.
"The significant scale, complexity and potential impacts of the proposed infrastructure are extensive and it would be many years before the whole of the planned additional capacity would realistically be warranted," Queensland Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney said in a statement.
"The proposals outlined by the (previous Labor) government were unrealistic and undeliverable. They were never going to come to reality."
The port now has an annual capacity of 50 million tonnes and industry officials say the proposed limited expansion is more in line with needs and with plans to reduce capital expenditure.
"Our focus on (terminal 2 and terminal 3) is a more practical and efficient approach to expansion of infrastructure at Abbot Point," Seeney said.
The port is managed by North Queensland Bulk Ports Corporation, which is owned by the state government. The current terminal is operated by a subsidiary of India's Adani, which is exploring an expansion of the existing unit to 85 million tonnes from 50 million tonnes.
The second and third terminals will be developed by BHP Billiton and Hancock Prospecting and will likely have a capacity of around 30 million tonnes each per year.
The plan calls for the possibility to expand that to around 60 million tonnes per year, bringing the facility's total potential annual capacity to 205 million tonnes, according to the deputy premier's office.
The coal industry backed the revised plan.
"Peabody feels good about its capacity to meet the expansions we have under way and we will continue to evaluate what are a number of options for the longer term," said Vic Svec, senior vice president with Peabody Energy.
Peabody was part of the North Queensland Coal Terminal consortium, one of the six parties looking to invest in the T4-T9 expansion. Another participant, Rio Tinto, has dropped out of the project.