Romanian coal and power group CE Hunedoara (CEH) will import some 0.2 million tonnes of coal over the next two years.

The company's coal production has decreased abruptly and is insufficient, although the power output halved as well over the past three years.

The company's own coal production decreased from 61,376 tonnes per month in 2016 to only 33,951 tonnes per month in 2019.

As the imports come by ships, mostly from the United States, CEH launched an auction to buy transport services on the route Constanta - Mintia (where the thermal power plant is located) for an estimated price of RON 12.45 mln (EUR 2.6 mln), Profit.ro reported.

The company is also facing financial problems and temporarily suspended operations over the weekend as Transgaz cut the natural gas supplies over unpaid bills. On the upside, the Government decided to contract system services from CEH (400 MW band electricity) by prolonging an existing contract by the end of the year.

The economic recovery plan for CEH, recently unveiled by the Government, includes spinning off the functional assets, according to GEO 60/2019, and setting up two companies.

"The first will include the Mintia Deva Thermal Power Plant, which will become the property of the local administration in Hunedoara County. The second will contain four coal mines and the Paroșeni Thermal Power Plant, which will operate under the authority of the Ministry of Economy and will be retrofitted to use natural gas instead of coal," the document states.

editor@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Carolyn Franks/Dreamstime.com)