Back then, Australian premium thermal coal prices were fetching around $US127 a tonne – 81% higher than their spot prices of around $US70/t this week.
According to The Australian, Adani has requested proposals from banks to look at a range of options for Abbot Point that could ultimately result in a sale worth about $2 billion.
While a company spokesman reportedly did not comment on its plans to possibly sell the 99-year lease of ABCT, he told the newspaper that it was routine for businesses such as Adani to review “financing options on its significant investments in Australia from time to time”
“The asset is likely to attract global buyers amid surging demand for infrastructure assets, which have been undeterred by the falling coal price,” the newspaper commented in reference to the $A1.7 billion sale of Newcastle port earlier this year.
The ABCT, 25km north of Bowen, is the most northerly coal port in Queensland, with throughput capacity of 50 million tonnes per annum.
Adani aimed to increase its capacity to 80Mtpa three years ago and was last month warning Queensland’s environment department that it could scrap ABCT expansion plans if the required dredging work could not be completed between March and June next year.
The port is tied in its proposed $16 billion Carmichael mine in the Galilee Basin with Adani reportedly fearing it could lose $A1 billion a year in coal revenue if the ABCT expansion did not come online by 2017.
The ABCT news also comes after Adani struck a binding agreement with Korean steelmaker POSCO to build the 388km North Galilee Basin Rail project to provide 60Mtpa of haulage capacity for the proposed Carmichael mine.
The Australian said it understood this rail would be located “due east from the northern part of the Galilee Basin to the established coal area of the Bowen Basin, where the line would connect with existing railway infrastructure”.
No maps showing the location of the proposed rail were revealed in Adani’s announcement on the deal last week.
ICN is seeking comment from Adani.
