Big Rivers resumes coke purchasing

Kentucky-based utility Big Rivers Electric has contracted to buy petroleum coke for the first time since early 2017.

The utility entered a spot coke contract with Oxbow Energy Solutions in mid-November 2021 and will be receiving supply on an as-needed, as available basis through the end of March.

Oxbow will be supplying Big Rivers with roughly 6pc sulphur coke sourced from Hunt Refining's 66,000 b/d Tuscaloosa, Alabama, refinery, delivered to either the utility's RD Green or DB Wilson generating stations.

The utility will be taking coke for its RD Green station at $105/short ton (st) on a delivered-at-place basis, while coke delivered to its DB Wilson station is contracted at $109/st because of a longer transportation route.

US utilities took 1.92mn st (1.74mn t) of coke in the first 10 months of 2021, down from 2.06mn st in the same period a year earlier, according to the Energy Information Administration.

On average, US utilities paid $80.80/st for their coke from January to October 2021, compared with just $47.71/st in the same 10-month period in 2020.

Big Rivers was shipped roughly 117,500 st of coke at an average price of $42.58/st in 2017, the last year the utility received the fuel. Big Rivers only took coke in the first six months of that year and has since relied on other sources of energy. such as coal or fuel oil.

By Delaney Ramirez