India's NALCO short of coal but operations normal

BHUBANESWAR, India, Aug 19 (Reuters) - India's National Aluminium Co Ltd (NALCO) (NALU.BO) is again facing coal shortages which could disrupt output at its units if supplies worsen, although operations are currently normal, top company officials said.

State-run NALCO, India's second biggest aluminium producer, has been plagued by coal shortages in recent months and a company official said it was planning to import 330,000 tonnes of coal, of which nearly half was already ordered.

"We are not able to keep minimum coal stocks," NALCO Chairman and Managing Director C.R. Pradhan told Reuters on Tuesday.

Its alumina refinery at Damanjodi in the eastern state of Orissa resumed normal production of 4,500 tonnes a day early this month after output was halved in late July because of a coal shortage.

"In Damanjodi we need to keep coal stocks of about 50,000 tonnes but we have at present only 15,000 tonnes," Pradhan said.

In June, NALCO was forced to shut down one of the seven power units that feed its smelter in Angul due to lack of coal.

"Both the plants continue to suffer due to coal shortage and to meet our requirements we are importing coal from Indonesia and some other countries," Pradhan said.

At Angul, the company had stocks of 45,000 tonnes of coal, enough for only three days, while it normally keeps a buffer stock of 150,000 tonnes, the unit's executive director Arun Sharma said.

"It is running more or less at full capacity ... In case we do not receive coal for two to three days then we will face a crisis," Sharma said.

Another official, who did not want to be identified, said the alumina refinery faced a similar risk.

"We are importing around 330,000 tonnes of coals out of which we have ordered for 160,000 and balances are in process," Sharma said. (Reporting by Jatindra Dash; Editing by Charlotte Cooper)