SunCoke Energy, Inc. is the largest independent producer of high-quality coke
in the Americas, as measured by tons of coke produced each year, and has more
than 50 years of coke production experience. Coke is a principal raw material
in the blast furnace steelmaking process and is produced by heating metallurgical
coal in a refractory oven, which releases certain volatile components from the
coal, thus transforming the coal into coke. We also provide coal handling and/or
mixing services at our Coal Logistics terminals to steel, coke (including some
of our domestic cokemaking facilities), electric utility and coal mining customers.
We report our business results through four segments:
Domestic Coke consists of our Jewell Coke Company, L.P. ("Jewell"),
Indiana Harbor Coke Company ("Indiana Harbor"), Haverhill Coke Company
LLC ("Haverhill"), Gateway Energy and Coke Company, LLC ("Granite
City") and Middletown Coke Company, LLC ("Middletown") cokemaking
and heat recovery operations located in Vansant, Virginia; East Chicago, Indiana;
Franklin Furnace, Ohio; Granite City, Illinois; and Middletown, Ohio, respectively.
Brazil Coke consists of our operations in Vitória, Brazil, where we operate
a cokemaking facility, ArcelorMittal Brasil S.A. ("ArcelorMittal Brazil”),
for a Brazilian subsidiary of ArcelorMittal S.A. ("ArcelorMittal");
Coal Logistics consists of our Convent Marine Terminal ("CMT"), Kanawha
River Terminals, LLC ("KRT"), SunCoke Lake Terminal, LLC ("Lake
Terminal"), and Dismal River Terminal, LLC ("DRT") coal handling
and/or mixing service operations in Convent, Louisiana; Ceredo and Belle, West
Virginia; East Chicago, Indiana; and Vansant, Virginia. Lake Terminal and DRT
are located adjacent to our Indiana Harbor and Jewell cokemaking facilities,
respectively.
Coal Mining consisted of our metallurgical coal mining activities conducted
in Virginia and West Virginia, until the business was divested in April 2016.
Our core business model is predicated on providing steelmakers an alternative
to investing capital in their own captive coke production facilities. We direct
our marketing efforts principally towards steelmaking customers that require
coke for use in their blast furnaces. Substantially all our coke sales are made
pursuant to long-term, take-or-pay agreements with ArcelorMittal S.A. ("ArcelorMittal"),
AK Steel and U.S. Steel, who are three of the largest blast furnace steelmakers
in North America, each of which individually accounts for greater than ten percent
of our consolidated revenues. The take-or-pay provisions require us to produce
the contracted volumes of coke and require our customers to purchase such volumes
of coke up to a specified tonnage or pay the contract price for any tonnage
they elect not to take. As a result, our ability to produce the contracted coke
volume is a key determinant of our profitability. We generally do not have significant
spot coke sales since our domestic capacity is consumed by long-term contracts;
accordingly, spot prices for coke do not generally affect our revenues. To date,
our coke customers have satisfied their obligations under these agreements.
Our coke sales agreements have an average remaining term of approximately eight
years and contain pass-through provisions for costs we incur in the cokemaking
process, including coal and coal procurement costs, subject to meeting contractual
coal-to-coke yields, operating and maintenance expenses, costs related to the
transportation of coke to our customers, taxes (other than income taxes) and
costs associated with changes in regulation. When targeted coal-to-coke yields
are achieved, the price of coal is not a significant determining factor in the
profitability of these facilities, although it does affect our revenue and cost
of sales for these facilities in approximately equal amounts. However, to the
extent that the actual coal-to-coke yields are less than the contractual standard,
we are responsible for the cost of the excess coal used in the cokemaking process.
Conversely, to the extent our actual coal-to-coke yields are higher than the
contractual standard, we realize gains. As coal prices increase, the benefits
associated with favorable coal-to-coke yields also increase. These features
of our coke sales agreements reduce our exposure to variability in coal price
changes and inflationary costs over the remaining terms of these agreements.
The coal component of the Jewell coke price is fixed annually for each calendar
year based on the weighted-average contract price of third-party coal purchases
at our Haverhill facility applicable to ArcelorMittal coke sales.
Our coke prices include both an operating cost component and a fixed fee component.
Operating costs under three of our coke sales agreements are fixed subject to
an annual adjustment based on an inflation index. Under our other three coke
sales agreements, operating costs are passed through to the respective customers
subject to an annually negotiated budget, in some cases subject to a cap annually
adjusted for inflation, and we share any difference in costs from the budgeted
amounts with our customers. Beginning in 2015, the operating and maintenance
cost recovery mechanism in our Indiana Harbor coke sales agreement shifted from
an annually negotiated budget amount with a cap to a fixed recovery per ton.
Accordingly, actual operating costs in excess of caps or budgets can have a
significant impact on the profitability of all of our domestic cokemaking facilities.
In 2018, the operating cost component of our contract at Indiana Harbor reverts
to an annually negotiated budget, which is expected to have a favorable impact
on our future results. The fixed fee component for each ton of coke sold to
the customer is determined at the time the coke sales agreement is signed and
is effective for the term of each sales agreement. The fixed fee is intended
to provide an adequate return on invested capital and may differ based on investment
levels and other considerations. The actual return on invested capital at any
facility is based on the fixed fee per ton and favorable or unfavorable performance
on pass-through cost items.
The coke sales agreement and energy sales agreement with AK Steel at our Haverhill
facility are subject to early termination by AK Steel under limited circumstances,
such as AK Steel permanently shutting down operation of the iron production
portion of its Ashland plant and not acquiring or beginning construction of
a new blast furnace in the U.S. to replace, in whole or in part, the Ashland
plants iron production capacity, and provided that AK Steel has given at least
two years prior notice of its intention to terminate the agreement and certain
other conditions are met. No other coke sales contract has an early termination
clause.
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