In its Q3 2022 earnings report, CONSOL Energy discussed its recent success, which included a healthy dividend; its 2023 and 2024 contracted position improving to 21.8 million tons and 8.8 million tons, respectively; and the outstanding safety performance at its operations.
“During the third quarter of 2022, we generated $107 million in free cash flow, despite the Pennsylvania Mining Complex having a planned maintenance shutdown and longwall move and encountering some operational issues, which limited production to 5.3 million tons,” said Jimmy Brock, president and CEO, CONSOL Energy. “We were once again able to retire a significant amount of our outstanding debt while returning $35 million of cash to our shareholders during the quarter.”
Capitalizing on the ongoing coal market strength, Brock said the company opportunistically contracted an additional 6 million tons of new business during the third quarter for delivery through 2026 at attractive prices. “Furthermore, we continue to target operation of the fifth longwall at the Pennsylvania Mining Complex (PAMC) by the end of the fourth quarter, which will give us upside potential and optionality in 2023 and beyond,” Brock said.
The Enlow Fork mine, Harvey mine, Bailey prep plant and CONSOL Marine Terminal each had zero employee recordable incidents during the Q3 2022. The Bailey prep plant and CMT have maintained zero employee recordable incidents thus far in 2022, while the Enlow Fork mine recently completed its second consecutive quarter at that mark. “Our Q3 2022 total recordable incident rate of 0.99 at the Pennsylvania Mining Complex continued to track significantly below the national average for underground bituminous coal mines,” Brock said.
During the third quarter of 2022, operational issues such as roof falls and equipment breakdowns, along with a planned maintenance shutdown and longwall move, limited CONSOL’s production. PAMC produced 5.3 million tons in Q3 2022, the same amount as Q3 2021, which also saw the PAMC deal with multiple operational and geological challenges. “These issues are behind us, and we expect to produce at a more normalized run rate in the fourth quarter,” Brock said. “The fifth longwall development remains on track, and we expect it to be operational in December 2022.”
