India interested in Russian thermal coal - Russian Energy Ministry

MOSCOW. Aug 26 (Interfax) - India is interested in Russian thermal coal, Deputy Energy Minister Sergey Mochalnikov said in an interview with RBC TV channel.

"The Indian market has always been considered promising for us. There is a separate document on it, signed at last year's Russian Energy Week. It indicates volume of 40 million tonnes of coking coal, but partners are also asking for thermal coal," he said.

After entry into force of EU restrictions, about 64 million tonnes, that is, "a quarter of our exports became unavailable for us," Mochalnikov said. "Accordingly, a quarter of our export volume needs to be placed in other markets," he said. According to Mochalnikov, Russian coal is now being replaced by coal from Australia and Indonesia. "Those countries that have begun supplying Europe, they are freeing up those markets that we should be striving to tap," he said.

"There are agreements, there are signed documents - there are memorandums of intent, there are documents with commitments," the deputy energy minister said, without disclosing with whom exactly Russia has agreed on coal supplies. This will be announced during Russian Energy Week.

Russian companies are currently looking for new supply chains due to the restrictions imposed by Europe, Mochalnikov said. "The saddest thing is that this will lead to an increase in the end price of our coal products in new markets," he said.

Among constraints for increasing supplies in other directions, Mochalnikov cited RZD's Eastern Polygon, which "is not developed to the infrastructure and volume needed to accommodate all comers."