Colombia and Venezuela
Another important area of recent international investment in coal lies in Latin America, primarily
Colombia and Venezuela. Colombia is far and away the largest producer of coal in Latin America,
followed by Brazil and Venezuela {see Endnote 304}.
Colombia
also has Latin America's largest coal reserves. Currently ranked ninth in the world in terms of
coal
exports, Colombia is expected to play an increasingly important role in world coal trade in the
future.
Again, several of the companies investing in Latin American coal mining are those with coal
investments in the United States and Australia. The Italian energy company AGIP mines coal in
Venezuela, as does Royal Dutch/Shell and the German energy conglomerate Ruhrkohl. AGIP
and
Veba also have coal mining operations in the United States {see Endnote 305}. Both Exxon and Drummond have coal investments
in
Colombia {see Endnote 306}.