Banpu aims for 2m tonnes of coal sales to VN
BANPU Plc, a leading integrated energy solutions company in the Asia-Pacific, is now in its second consecutive year of penetrating Vietnam’s coal markets. It aims to seal agreements to provide more than 2 million tonnes of coal to Vietnamese clients to respond to growing demand for coal.
Moreover, under its “greener and smarter” strategy, the company seeks new investment opportunities to sustain the Banpu Group’s future business growth.
Somruedee Chaimongkol, CEO of Banpu Public Co Ltd, said, “Vietnam is the 10th country that Banpu has entered to capture great business opportunity.”
As a country in the Asia-Pacific region, Vietnam is experiencing a rapid demand growth for electricity, he said. Vietnam’s official power development plan from 2017 expects to see a doubling of power demand to 130 GW by 2030 to feed the country’s rapid economic growth, with coal remaining the main source of power generation. Domestic supply of coal is insufficient to meet the country’s demand and so it is being imported.
“In 2018, Banpu sold 1.3 million tonnes of coal to Vietnam” said Somruedee. “We are ready and capable of providing high quality and customised specifications of coal from our own mines, including in Indonesia and Australia.”
Banpu also has a “strong partnership network to satisfy clients with a sophisticated logistics system,” she added. “In 2019, Banpu is increasing our target to achieve sales of over 2 million tonnes of coal to Vietnam from established trusts and diversified clients.”
Apart from Banpu’s strong historical positioning in coal production and commercial aspects, Banpu in 2018 set up an office in Ho Chi Min City to manage coal sales covering marketing, client services, research, sales contracts and logistic operations. This office also serves wind farm development, as well as evaluating possible further investments in solar farms and other power plants.
“Given the confidence of our stakeholders in every country in which we have business, our strong financial performance and our corporate governance, we are determined to grow sustainable business by looking for further investment opportunities that generate great returns and are in line with our Greener & Smarter strategy.
“We will focus on the development of three 3 core businesses – energy resources (coal and gas, including related operations such as marketing, training, logistics, fuel procurement and transmission), energy generation (coal-fired and renewables power plants) and energy technology (total solar energy solutions, energy storage systems and energy technology systems), in Vietnam and other countries in Asia-Pacific,” she said.
“These businesses are crucial for Banpu’s future growth and our potential to create added value and to maximise long-term returns for our shareholders.”
