Sasol in talks for CTL plant in India
engineeringnews.co.za
By: Mariaan Olivier
Published: 15 Oct 07 - 15:06
South African petrochemicals firm Sasol was gradually moving forward its plans to establish at least one coal-to-liquids (CTL) plant in India, Sasol International GM for commercial operations Ed Cameron said on Monday.
The company is conducting a feasibility study on a proposed 80 000 bbl/d CTL plant in India, and he said that it would require an investment of between $6-billion and $8-billion.
"CTL is on the verge of developing into a global industry," Cameron said, but added that Sasol would need partnerships with the host governments to realise the commercial, environmental and social potential of the technology.
In India, the company required the State's facilitation to access appropriate coal blocks, and to create a enabling fiscal framework.
Sasol business development manager for India CTL Janita Maharaj said that the company was in various stages of discussions with several private and governmental parties in India.
It had already selected a “strong Indian player”, and was currently in talks with authorities to acquire coal blocks.
Should it prove feasible to establish a CTL plant in India, Sasol would require up to 1,5-billion tons of coal over the plant’s 25-year life.
A plant consumes between 25-million tons a year and 30-million tons a year of extractable coal reserves, depending on the quality of coal.
Five CTL plants can replace 20% of India's fuel imports by 2020
Sasol, which was also investigating the possibility of building CTL plants in China and the US, said that five CTL facilities could replace about one fifth of India’s fuel imports over the next 13 years.
Not only would this reduce the country’s dependency on oil imports, but also contribute to national energy security, Cameron said.
An 80 000 bl/d facility could generate between 500 MW and 1 000 MW of export electricity depending on the plant’s configuration, he explained.
A CTL plant could also generate almost 37 000 jobs over the construction period, which usually lasted for about five years, and more than 15 000 jobs over its 25-year life cycle. |
