Consol Selling 5 Coal Mines, River Transport Business in $3.5B
Deal
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
28 October 2013
By Stephanie Strasburg
The Blacksville No. 2 Mine is one of the five Consol coal mines in
northern West Virginia confirmed to be sold to Ohio mining
competitor Murray Energy Inc., in a deal announced Monday that
includes $850 million in cash. The company will keep five mines to
help supply overseas demand and use the capital it is freeing up
to reinvest in exploration and production of shale gas.
Key events
1860: Several western Maryland coal operators form
Consolidation Coal Co. But the company's operation is delayed for
four years by the Civil War. The company was headquartered in
Cumberland, Md., until 1945.
1945: Consolidated merges with Pittsburgh Coal Co. and moves its
headquarters to Western Pennsylvania.
1966: Continental Oil Co., or Conoco, buys Consolidated Coal Co.
1980: CONSOL starts extracting and selling coal bed methane gas to
improve safety conditions in its underground mines.
1981: DuPont buys Conoco and sells some of its coal mining
interests in Pennsylvania to a subsidiary of German energy company
RWE A.G.
1984: The company opens the Bailey Mine in Greene County, which is
the largest underground mining complex in the world.
1991: DuPont and RWE form CONSOL Energy as a joint venture.
1999: CONSOL Energy goes public.
2000: CONSOL starts buying gas reserves.
2005: CONSOL creates CNX Gas Corp. and puts its gas assets into
the company.
2006: CONSOL acquires Mon River Towing and becomes the largest
river operator on the Monongahela River, with 18 tow boats and
more than 650 barges.
2010: CONSOL buys Dominion Resource's exploration and production
business for$3.5 billion, becoming one of the largest natural gas
producers in the Appalachian Basin and one of the largest
developers of Marcellus shale.
Consol Energy Inc.
employees: 8,893
reserves: 4.5 billion tons
annual coal production: 56.5 million tons
Murray Energy Corp.
employees: 3,300
reserves: 859 million tons
annual coal production: 30.1 million tons