China’s top coal miner boosts first-half investment, production

China Energy Investment Corp., the country’s top coal miner, lifted its investments and production as the government pushes for energy security and increased spending on infrastructure.

Development investment rose by 51% to 49.3 billion yuan ($7.3 billion) in the first six months from the same period in 2021, the Beijing-based company said in a statement posted on the state-backed China Electric Power News WeChat account. CEIC started work on 11 power projects with 12.4 gigawatts of capacity that will cost 86.1 billion yuan.

The company boosted coal production by 6.2% to 300 million tons and increased sales to 390 million tons. That follows orders from the central government for companies to avoid last year’s disastrous power curtailments, and promises of increased infrastructure spending to help the economy rebound after pandemic lockdowns brought growth to a near-standstill in the second quarter.

CEIC’s operating income and net profit rose to records, according to the statement. The group said it obtained approval for more than 19 gigawatts of new clean energy projects and started construction on 4.25 gigawatts. It also completed two coal power plants and received approval to build at least four others.

Seperately, the company won approval to add 58 million tons of coal capacity in the first half, Xinhua reported, citing the company.

The state-owned giant has several publicly traded units, including coal miner China Shenhua Energy Co. and wind power generator China Longyuan Power Group Corp.

(By Dan Murtaugh, with assistance from Kathy Chen)