Two rivaling U.S. coal companies announced plans Wednesday to merge, a move that would create the largest exporter of thermal and metallurgical coal in North America.
Consol Energy and Arch Resources announced a plan to join into a new company dubbed Core Natural Resources, yet another sign that U.S. companies facing challenges at home — increasingly stricter emission regulations and waning investment — are pivoting to feed hungry nations abroad.
“There’s certainly a lot of risks in the U.S. domestic marketplace, particularly around power plant retirements, cheap natural gas, and the buildout of renewables,” said Andy Blumenfeld, a coal analyst at McCloskey by OPIS. “In terms of overall risk, they feel they’re in a better position to be able to get to the export market rather than a very competitive domestic marketplace.”
Arch largely mines metallurgical coal used to make steel, while Consol mines and exports bituminous thermal coal and metallurgical coal, with three underground mines in Pennsylvania and operations in central Appalachia.
