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Peabody Energy today announced that it has named Jie "Jay" Li Vice President of Business Development -- China, reporting to Peabody China President Tayeb Tahir. He is responsible for expanding Peabody's business development activities in China, Mongolia and other neighboring countries.

Born and raised in Beijing, Li has more than 20 years of experience managing international and energy generation operations in China, Southern Asia and the United States, including coal-fueled, gas and hydropower energy plants.

Li joined Peabody in July 2005 and most recently served as Director of Business Development for Peabody China. He spent 10 years in increasingly responsible positions with Panda Energy International and was Senior Director of Asset Management and Mergers and Acquisitions before joining Peabody. Prior to that, Li managed operations in Nepal, China and in the United States for various U.S. companies including Panda. Li began his career in 1982 with the Ministry of Light Industry of the People's Republic of China.

Li holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from the Shaanxi University of Science and Technology in China.

Coal has been the world's fastest-growing fuel the past five years, and coal use is expected to increase nearly 75 percent over the next 25 years. Huge growth is being driven by China, which uses coal to fuel nearly three-fourths of its electricity.

Peabody is continuing to expand its presence in China to fuel robust growth. The company opened its Beijing office in fall 2005, began trading activities in China in 2007 and continues to make progress on coal-related business development opportunities.

Peabody is also the only non-Chinese equity partner in GreenGen, China's centerpiece climate initiative. GreenGen is among a number of major voluntary carbon management projects that Peabody is advancing around the world, joined by the Coal21 program in Australia, FutureGen in the United States and the Asia-Pacific Partnership.

Peabody Energy is the world's largest private-sector coal company, with 2007 sales of 238 million tons of coal and $4.6 billion in revenues. Its coal products fuel approximately 10 percent of all U.S. electricity generation and 2 percent of worldwide electricity.

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SOURCE: Peabody Energy