Hira Fawad and Joshua Learn for SNL:



Coal production fell in the first half of 2016 dropped 26% from the same period of 2015 on widespread output curtailments especially in the massive Powder River Basin of Wyoming and Montana..

Data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence shows that coal production was down to 777.7 million tons across the country for the 12 months leading up to June 30, 2016. This number is down from the 961.4 million tons produced in the preceding period and down nearly a third from the 1.09 billion tons produced in the 12 months ending on June 30, 2011.

This output drop has been foreshadowed by the idling of dozens of coal mines across the U.S. in the first half of this year.

In terms of overall drop in production half year-over-half year, the Powder River Basin was the hardest hit, dropping about a third from 199.2 million tons produced in the first half of 2015 to only 134.2 million tons in the first half of this year. That 65 million ton drop represents more coal than that actually produced in the first half of 2016 in any of the three other major producing regions: Illinois Basin, Central Appalachia and Northern Appalachia.

Full item (with tables and graphs) ($): Domestic coal production in 1H’16 falls 26%, with West bearing the brunt