17th Coaltrans USA

9:00AM Session 1

09.00 Welcome and opening remarks
Alex Tyumenin, Managing Director, Coaltrans Conferences
 

09.10 Chair’s Opening Remarks
Chair: Hans Daniels, CEO, Doyle Trading Consultants

09.20 Has the coal industry finally rebalanced and will these higher prices last?

• Are coal producers now making stable returns instead of huge losses?
• Can we agree we are in a better place than we were a year ago?
• How did the hot summer of 2016 impact business?
• How easy or difficult is it to keep coal businesses viable in this regulatory environment?

Bob Murray, CEO, Murray Energy

09.50 Panel Discussion: How is coal purchasing changing as coal moves from being a baseload to a peaking fuel?

• In hindsight, what’s the fairest price during the down cycle for both buyer and seller? What should be our price floor?
• The effect of renewables and gas prices on business
• How quickly is coal use declining?
• How have they changed business shipments and burn profile?

Panellists:

Todd Adkins, Director - Sales, Bowie Resource Partners

Chad Hewitt, Fuel Services Manager, Alabama Power Company

Chuck West, Manager – Coal Procurement, American Electric Power

Greg Workman, Director – Fuels, Virginia Power Energy Marketing

10.20 Panel Discussion: Should we expect further Met Coal price rallies?

• Which met coal export opportunities have opened up with the level of price improvements we’ve already seen? 
• Which markets can we predict to open up if prices continue to rise?
• At what price does US met coal re-enter the export market?
• Demand for US coal from steel makers around the world
• Could we see more coal terminals on the West Coast by 2025?

Panellists:

George Dethlefsen, CEO, Corsa Coal

Jeremy Sussman, Head of US Equity Research, Clarksons Platou Securities

Jose Alfaro, Consultant, Energy & Mining Analyst, Rio Fuerte Ventures

10.50 Morning Networking Break
 

11:20AM Session 2

Chair: Alex Tyumenin, Managing Director, Coaltrans Conferences

11.20 What should we expect for our industry as we adjust to a new market paradigm?
Kevin Crutchfield, CEO, Contura Energy

11.50 What should we expect for our industry as we emerge stronger and leaner?

• The aftermath of Chapter 11 – the changes going forward
• How will the emergence of major companies out of Chapter 11 impact the industry as a
  whole?
• Which assets are continuing to run during bankruptcy?
• Have the rest of us now avoided bankruptcy?
• Real life case-studies from the biggest cases

Chair: Brian Resnick, Partner – Insolvency and Restructuring, Davis Polk & Wardwell

Panellists:
Shane Azzara, Director, Citigroup Global Markets
David Dunn, Managing Partner, Cross Sound Management
Grant Quasha, CCO, Bowie Resource Partners
 

12.30 Networking Lunch
 

1:50PM Session 3

Chair: Matt Schicke, Head of US Coal, NOBLE

13.50 Panel Discussion: As market activity picks back up, how can you cement your place as a competitive supplier in the seaborne industry?

• In the process of doing business overseas, what legal advice should emerging coal producers take?
• Does the US remain a high-cost producer despite extensive cost cutting and restructuring?
• As a producer, how do you avoid being pushed out the market by traders?
• Emerging producers looking around the world for potential export opportunities
• What about net return the producer gets from the coal buyer – how is this calculated? 
• Could there be more clarity and transparency around coal pricing and barge and freight rates?

Panellists:
Adam Anderson, Vice President Marketing/Sales, Armstrong Coal
Dan Vaughn, Principal, Coal Desk 

14.20 Panel Discussion: The rally of API2 – a sign of improving market conditions or simply a contraction in supply?

• What is the outlook for US exports into Europe, Turkey, etc.?
• Contracting coal demand in Europe/UK and its impact on US coal exports
• Is it realistic to expect Europe to stop importing coal? What does this mean for the US?
• Could the Turkish tax levy cause Colombian and US exports to go elsewhere?
• How does coal use fit around France/Germanys’ decisions to shut down nuclear power?
• Can the better coal prices overseas trickle back to the US?

Panellists:
Matthew Moore, Senior Coal Trader, Vattenfall

Howard Gatiss, CEO, CMC Coal Marketing Company

14.50 In what ways can US and Colombian coals complement each other, rather than compete?

• Which markets are opened up for this reason?
• Forecasted volumes of Colombian coal imports to the US in 2017
• Can a blended US-Colombian coal product be marketed more effectively than separate coals?
• How have Colombian Coal Producers resolved their logistics and infrastructure problems in recent times?
• What will Drummond have in its plans going forwards?
• How are Colombia making the most of the Panama Canal?

Peter Bradley, CEO, Javelin Global Commodities

Howard Gatiss, CEO, CMC Coal Marketing Company

15.20 Afternoon Networking Break

3:50PM Session 4

15.50 Panel Discussion: How is the US coke market performing and what’s the outlook for the tertiary sectors dependent on it?

• Demand for steel products from steel mills vs mini mills – the trajectory of trends, reflecting on coal-dependent steel products
• Will steel mills opt to keep creating their own coke or outsourcing it?

Chair: Alex Tyumenin, Managing Director, Coaltrans Conferences

Panellists:
Mike Hardesty, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Business Development, Terminals and International Coke, Suncoke
Mike Nobis, Director, Coal Procurement and Coke Sales, DTE Energy Services

16.20  Panel Discussion: What is the outlook for the financial health of the US domestic coal industry?

• Private equities experience and their future expectations for the industry
• Will financial support for the industry return when the market picks up?
• What will geology and exploration look like in the industry, going forwards?
• How easy or difficult is it to keep coal businesses viable in this regulatory environment?

Chair: Alex Tyumenin, Managing Director, Coaltrans Conferences

Panellists:
Jonathan Rose, BMO Capital Markets

Jeremy Sussman, Head of US Equity Research, Clarksons Platou Securities

Todd Hannigan, CEO, Paringa Resources​

16.50 End of Day One

17.00 Evening Networking Reception

9:30AM Session 5

09.30 Opening remarks

Alex Tyumenin, Managing Director, Coaltrans Conferences

Chair: Paul Reagan, President, Sampling Associates International

09.40 Changes in MARPOL regulations and their effects on the seaborne coal industry

• Who will be spending the $40billion required for scrubbers and/or fuels needed for full compliance?
• Is purchasing low sulphur fuel a sufficient short-term strategy for shippers?
• What’s the direction of changes of regulatory landscape for the shipping industry?

Senior Representative, US Coast Guard

10.00 Overview of the latest Transportable Moisture Limit (TML) regulations in relation to coal transportation

Paul Reagan, President, Sampling Associates International
 

10.15 Regulation Roundup: the key policies you should be aware of and how they could materially impact your coal business

• What does pro-coal mean? How should we treat our workers?
• How can we expect the EPA Clean Power Plan, Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act to be resolved following the appointment of the Supreme Court judges?
• New regulatory steam rule – how will it impact on Longwall mining?
• Section 108(b) of CERCLA
• Mine Safety & Health Administration
• Domestic cap-and-trade or carbon tax legislation
• What is the impact of the new CSAPR Rule?

Jerry Mullins, Vice President, Government Affairs and External Relations, National Mining Association 

Phillip M. Gonet, President, Illinois Coal Association
 

10.35 Panel Discussion: The impact that the new President might have on the US coal industry

• The potential for steel and power demand stimulus from an infrastructure spending bill
• Decreased regulatory pressures and enforcement actions from the Mine Safety & Health
• Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency, lowering operating costs for producers
• A tone set by government that encourages energy production: influencing the granting of permits, community relations, investor relations, hiring, and other aspects of coal mining
• The appointment of conservative judges to limit the impacts of the Clean Water Act, Clean Air
• Act Clean Power Plan, and other legislation
• The nullification of domestic cap-and-trade or carbon tax legislation
• Reversal of US opposition to World Bank financing for international coal fired power plants and US support for international climate change policies

Panellists:

Jerry Mullins, Vice President, Government Affairs and External Relations, National Mining Association 

Phillip M. Gonet, President, Illinois Coal Association

11.00 Morning Networking Break
 

11:30AM Session 6

Chair: Tom Canter, Executive Director, National Coal Transportation Association

11.30 Coal transportation in the USA - finding the missing link
Tom Canter, Executive Director, National Coal Transportation Association
 

11.50 Understanding transportation price discounts impact on generating margin

• How power generators can dispatch economically
• How changes (discounts) in transportation rates impact coal unit dispatch costs (in $/MWh)
• How this impacts generation, generation margin and coal consumed

Brian Despard, Vice President, L. E. Peabody & Associates

12.10 Panel Discussion: The need for flexible coal deliveries – a year on, what’s changed?

• How have the railroads been performing this year?
• How are railroads impacting coal business and is closer collaboration necessary?
• Can the railroads learn anything from the way barges do business with coal companies?
• How do transportation companies plan on supporting the coal/utility industries to keep product moving efficiently and competitively?
• Where’s the balance between predictability for capital intensive areas of the industry vs flexibility for the users and producers?

Panellists:
Chuck Arnold, VP Dry Cargo Sales, Ingram Barge Company and VP Custom Fuel Services, Ingram Marine Group

Brian Despard, Vice President, L. E. Peabody & Associates

12.30 Networking lunch and close of conference