The August issue will feature International Mining’s annual review of the global coal industry. It uses figues from BP’s recently released world energy report, the BP Statistical Review of World Energy June 2010, and much more. The BP report finds that coal continues to represent 29% of global energy consumption, second only to oil, with 34.8% of the total share. World coal production reached 3,408.6 Mt of oil equivalent (Mtoe) in 2009, up 2.4% from 2008. Growth was driven by the Asia Pacific region’s 8.6% increase – the only region to experience production growth in 2009.

The report noted that coal was displaced by hydro as the world’s fastest growing energy in 2009, with global coal consumption remaining essentially flat at 3,278.3 Mtoe. While world hydro consumption was up 1.5% at 740.3 Mtoe, hydro still constitutes less than one fifth of world coal consumption. Due to the global recession, world primary energy consumption fell 1.1% in 2009, the first decline since 1982 and the largest decline (in percentage terms) since 1980.

IM’s report notes that coal markets should be strong for the mid-term and that the metallurgical coal market is particularly hot. EIA projects world coal consumption to increase from 132 quadrillion Btu in 2007 to 206 quadrillion Btu in 2035, at an average annual rate of 1.6%. China alone accounts for 78% of the total net increase in world coal use from 2007 to 2035. China and India produce some 80 and 70% of their power, respectively, from coal. China became a net importer of coal for the first time in 2009 and producers are gearing up for increased exports to India.