US coal output is on track this quarter to exceed year-earlier levels in every major basin, reflecting recent domestic buyer-interest and the resolution of disruptions that affected mining operations last year.
US mines produced an estimated 71.8mn short tons (65.1mn metric tonnes) of coal in the seven weeks ended on 17 May, which marks just over the halfway point of the second quarter, according to US Energy Information Administration's (EIA) weekly production data. That was up by 22pc compared with the 59mn st produced in the comparable weeks in 2024.
If the trend continues into the back half of the second quarter, this will be the first extended stretch of time in which every US basin has surpassed coal production from a year earlier at the same time since the fourth quarter of 2021.
Many utilities during the winter consumed more coal than originally projected because abnormally cold weather at the start of the year caused natural gas prices to surge, making coal a more competitive fuel alternative. This greatly reduced the amount of coal stockpiled at many power plants going into the second quarter compared with the prior year.
A number of domestic customers — including Dominion Energy, East Kentucky Power Cooperative, Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities, and Southern Company — have started to seek new spot and term purchases earlier than they had in 2024.
Mines in the western US had the greatest production gains in the first half of the quarter, according to EIA. Coal output in Utah more than doubled from the same period in 2024, climbing to an estimated 1.06mn st in the seven weeks ended on 17 May from 516,432st a year earlier. Production in the state was significantly lower in the second quarter of 2024 because Utah's largest mine — Wolverine Fuel's Skyline #3 — had an extended longwall move that lasted from the start of April through the final week of June 2024.
Colorado's coal output also increased to 1.84mn st from 1.56mn st in the same seven weeks in 2024, according to EIA. The agency estimates mines in Montana and Wyoming, which yield primarily Powder River Basin coal, produced 27.8mn st in the first half of the second quarter, sharply rising by 22pc from a year earlier.
Eastern US coal mines likewise produced more coal. Many producers, primarily in Appalachia, scaled back mining operations last year to align with reduced export capacity when vessel traffic through the Port of Baltimore, Maryland was blocked for the first two thirds of the second quarter.
Northern Appalachian mines produced an estimated 12.4mn st of coal in the seven weeks ended on 17 May, climbing by 20pc from the comparable weeks in 2024.
And output out of Central Appalachia is on track to exceed year-earlier levels for the first time since the third quarter of 2023, increasing by 17pc from last year to an estimated 8.94mn st.
Similarly, Illinois basin production, which has been declining from the previous year's output levels for the last eight quarters, rose to 9.92mn st in the first half of the second quarter, up by 16pc from the same period last year, EIA estimates showed.
