XML 59 R11.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v3.20.4
General and Basis of Presentation
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2020
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
General and Basis of Presentation
1. General and Basis of Presentation
Description of Business
SunCoke Energy, Inc. (“SunCoke Energy,” “SunCoke,” “Company,” “we,” “our” and “us”) 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 60 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. Additionally, we own and operate a logistics business, which primarily provides handling and/or mixing services of coal and other aggregates to third-party customers as well as to our own cokemaking facilities.
We have designed, developed, built, own and operate five cokemaking facilities in the United States (“U.S.”) with collective nameplate capacity to produce approximately 4.2 million tons of blast furnace coke per year. Additionally, we have designed and operate one cokemaking facility in Brazil under licensing and operating agreements on behalf of ArcelorMittal Brasil S.A. ("ArcelorMittal Brazil”), which has approximately 1.7 million tons of annual cokemaking capacity. To diversify our business and customer base, SunCoke began exploring the foundry coke market in 2020. Foundry coke is a high-quality grade of coke that is used at foundries to melt iron and various metals in cupola furnaces, which is further processed via casting or molding into products used in various industries such as construction, transportation and industrial products. Throughout 2020, we tested production capacity and executed successful test sales of foundry coke. We will begin to produce and sell foundry coke on a commercial scale in 2021.
Our cokemaking ovens utilize efficient, modern heat recovery technology designed to combust the coal’s volatile components liberated during the cokemaking process and use the resulting heat to create steam or electricity for sale. This differs from by-product cokemaking, which repurposes the coal’s liberated volatile components for other uses. We have constructed the only greenfield cokemaking facilities in the U.S. in approximately 30 years and are the only North American coke producer that utilizes heat recovery technology in the cokemaking process. We provide steam pursuant to steam supply and purchase agreements with our customers. Electricity is sold into the regional power market or pursuant to energy sales agreements.
Our logistics business provides handling and/or mixing services to steel, coke (including some of our domestic cokemaking facilities), electric utility, coal producing and other manufacturing based customers. The logistics business has terminals in Indiana, West Virginia, Virginia, and Louisiana with collective capacity to mix and/or transload more than 40 million tons of coal and other aggregates annually and has total storage capacity of approximately 3 million tons.
Incorporated in Delaware in 2010 and headquartered in Lisle, Illinois, we became a publicly-traded company in 2011, and our stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) under the symbol “SXC.”
Consolidation and Basis of Presentation
The consolidated financial statements of the Company and its subsidiaries were prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. ("GAAP") and include the assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses of the Company and all subsidiaries where we have a controlling financial interest. Intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated in consolidation.
Our consolidated financial statements have historically included SunCoke Energy Partners, L.P. (the “Partnership”), which owned our Haverhill, Middletown, and Granite City cokemaking facilities and Convent Marine Terminal ("CMT"), Kanawha River Terminal ("KRT") and SunCoke Lake Terminal ("Lake Terminal"). On June 28, 2019, the Company acquired the outstanding units of the Partnership not already owned by SunCoke, at which time the Partnership became a wholly-owned subsidiary of SunCoke. See Note 3. As of January 1, 2020, the Partnership merged with and into SunCoke Energy Partners Finance Corp., which is also a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company.
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interest represents the common public unitholders’ interest in the Partnership prior to the transaction discussed in Note 3 as well as a 14.8 percent third-party interest in our Indiana Harbor cokemaking facility.