Frackers Get Not One But Two Coal-Mine Canaries
An Arch/Peabody venture to squeeze costs out of a dwindling business shows the way for shale oil and gas.
A canary not in a coal mine.
Photographer: RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP/Getty Images
Wyoming’s Powder River Basin has been generating some buzz in oil and gas circles as a potential source of new supply (as if oil and gas need that). On Wednesday, though, its real significance was as a strategic signpost.
The PRB, as it is known, is more famous for coal; and two of the biggest miners, Peabody Energy Corp. and Arch Coal Inc., are throwing their lot there together. A planned joint venture will combine five mines in Wyoming and Colorado into a single operation producing more than 60% of the basin’s coal. It will be roughly two-thirds owned by Peabody, with Arch taking the rest.