(EnergyAsia, April 2 2012, Monday) — US coal miner Peabody Energy said heavy floods in Australia’s Queensland state will affect its first quarter financial and operatin performance.

The company expects to achieve the low end of its original targeted earnings range of A$500 to A$600 million and adjusted diluted earnings per share of US$0.50 to A$0.75 for the first three months of 2012. (US$1 = A$0.95).

Peabody said the recent storms and flooding in Queensland which have halted port and rail movements, curtailed production at surface mines and restricted access to underground operations.

The company has placed early estimates of the impacts at approximately A$50 million for the first quarter related to lower production and sales volumes and higher costs due to volume impacts and recovery expenses. Actual quarterly results may vary depending on the pace of recovery from the flooding.

“Australia is the world’s largest coal exporting nation, and disruptions such as these point to the tight supply-demand balance that exists for seaborne metallurgical and thermal coal,” said Peabody Energy chairman and CEO Gregory H. Boyce.

“Peabody continues to target significant increases in its Australia coal exports in 2012 to serve rising global demand for both metallurgical and thermal coal products.”

Peabody Energy is the world’s largest private-sector coal company and a global leader in clean coal solutions. With 2011 sales of 251 million tons and A$8 billion in revenues, the company fuels 10% of US power and 2% of worldwide electricity.