Weekly US coal production totaled an estimated 15.15 million st in the week that ended February 24, down 2.7% from the prior week and 1.6% from the year-ago week, US Energy Information Administration data showed Thursday.
This was the weakest output estimate in February. The strongest year-to-date estimate was 15.87 million st in the week that ended February 3.
S&P Global Platts Analytics estimates utility stockpiles stood at 107.24 million st for the week ending Thursday, down about 2% from the same week a year ago.
Based on EIA estimates through the first eight weeks of the year, annualized US coal production would total 762 million st, down 1.1% from last year.
For the recently concluded week, coal production in Wyoming and Montana, which primarily comprises coal from the Powder River Basin, totaled an estimated 6.73 million st, down 4.1% compared with a week ago and 1.7% from the year-ago week.
On an annualized basis, coal production in Wyoming and Montana would total 342 million st, down 3.2% from last year.
In Central Appalachia, weekly coal production totaled an estimated 1.94 million st, down 0.4% from last week and up 8.7% from last year. Annualized 2017 production would total 95.9 million st, up 7.1% from last year.
In Northern Appalachia, weekly coal production totaled an estimated 2.06 million st, down 2.4% from last week and 3.6% from the year-ago week. Annualized production would total 103.57 million st, down 0.6% from last year.
In the Illinois Basin, weekly coal production totaled an estimated 2.1 million st, flat with last week, but down 3.4% from a year ago. Annualized production would total 104.1 million st, down 0.6% from 2017.
