|
Spain Coal
Spain's coal reserves are found primarily in Asturias,
with
smaller deposits located near southwestern Seville,
Cordoba, and
Badajoz, and in northeastern Catalonia and Aragon
(Spanish,
Aragon). Most of the country's lignite is located in
Galicia.
Domestic coal is generally of poor quality, and, because
of the
structure of Spanish deposits, it is more expensive than
imported
coal. In 1967 HUNOSA, a state holding company under the
control
of INI, was founded to direct most of Spain's coal mining,
and it
gradually took over the larger coal companies.
Higher oil prices have spurred domestic coal
production.
Annual production in the early 1970s amounted to about 10
million
tons of coal and 3 million tons of lignite. By the
mid-1980s, the
industry produced 15 million tons of coal and 23 million
tons of
lignite annually. This higher rate of production was
insufficient
to meet domestic needs because coal had come to supply
about 25
percent of Spain's needed energy, compared with about 16
percent
in the early 1970s. About 5 million tons of foreign coal
were
imported per annum.
Over the years, there had been little change in
patterns of
coal consumption. Hard coal, used mainly for the
generation of
electricity, accounted for 65 percent of total demand. The
steel
and cement industries were the two next-largest consumers.
In line with the energy rationalization policies set by
PEN,
the government sought to increase the efficiency of the
coalmining sector by closing down high-cost mines and by
providing
financial aid for the industry's modernization. To
encourage the
cement and other industries to convert from oil to coal,
the
government allowed them to import duty-free coal. The
government
also made efforts to substitute the use of oil for coal in
urban
areas.
Data as of December 1988
|
