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Gold/Mining/Energy : Gasification Technologies -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dennis Roth who wrote (904)	6/11/2007 6:55:24 AM
From: Dennis Roth	Respond to of 1740

CAPEX, WATER COSTS TOO STEEP China’s expansive coal-to-liquids program may be doomed Decisions by China’s National Development and Reform Commission and State Council may bring the country’s fast-moving and expansive coal-to-liquid program to a rapid halt. Author: Dorothy Kosich Posted: Monday , 11 Jun 2007 mineweb.net RENO, NV - China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has called for ending the nation's coal-to-liquid (CTL) projects, while an official Beijing paper reported Sunday that China's State Council has decided to restrict CTL programs. Quoting a deputy director of the NDRC, who declined to be named, official news agency Xinhua said the liquefied coal projects consume too much energy. The capital demand costs and higher consumption of water for liquefied coal fuels production has long worried the NDRC, which warned last year about the environmental consequences of the development of synthetic oil and chemical claims. The commission claimed CTL projects would consume tens of millions of cubic meters of water yearly. The Beijing Youth Daily Sunday said that China's cabinet, the State Council, has approved in principle a" long-term renewable energy development plan" which calls for restrictions on the domestic CTL and ethanol industries. During a seminar in Beijing Saturday, the NDRC official cited a project in Mongolia which a designed CTL capacity of 1.08 million tons would require more than 50 billion yuan (US$6.58 billion) in investment. He sad the nation had begun CTL projects without first performing adequate trials, and that the technologies were not yet sophisticated. China's largest coal company Shenhua Group plans to begin production from the nation's first CTL plant, with a capex of $1.5 billion in Mongolia this year or in early 2008. Shenhua's plant uses the Bergius process or direct liquefaction. Direct liquification produces more fuel per ton than Fischer-Tropsch. State-owned Shenhua plans to pump 20,00bpd of synthetic oil. Shenhua hopes to operate eight liquefaction facilities by 2030 to yield a total of more than 30 million tons annually. China's second largest coal miner, the Yankuang coal group is planned a CTL plant near the Shenhua facility, using the Fischer-Tropsch process with a proprietary gasifier and catalyst. However, China's Coal Research Institute said Shenhua's facility will consume 360 gallons of water for every barrel of oil producer. Both Shenhua and the Yankuang CTL projects are located in Erdos, a desert municipality in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, with a serious absence of water supplies that are already allocated to population growth and existing power facilities. One of Shenhua's competitors acknowledged earlier this year that "water is the key factor" to develop China's CTL industry.

To: Dennis Roth who wrote (904)	8/29/2008 8:55:22 AM
From: Dennis Roth	Respond to of 1740

UPDATE: Sasol Scraps One Proposed China Coal-to-oil Project Thursday August 28th, 2008 / 17h42 easybourse.com (Adds Sasol's decision not to proceed with Shaanxi study, CEO quote, details.) BEIJING (Dow Jones)-South Africa's Sasol Ltd. (SSL) said Thursday it was scrapping one of its two proposed coal-to-liquids projects in China, after Beijing indicated it was scaling back a drive to produce synthetic fuels from its largest energy source. Sasol said it was no longer proceeding with plans for a CTL project in the northern province of Shaanxi and would focus fully on a feasibility study of a plant in neighboring Ningxia Hui autonomous region with a capacity of 80,000 barrels a day. Pat Davies, chief executive of Sasol, said: "I believe that it is the right decision to focus all our attention and resources on ensuring the planning and construction of a world-scale 80,000 barrel a day, fully integrated CTL plant in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region." The proposed site at the Ningdong Chemical and Energy Base has excellent infrastructure and a significant amount of preparation work has already been completed, Sasol said, adding the project has the full support of Ningxia Governor Wang Zhengwei. Sasol is partnering Shenhua Ningxia Coal Group, a unit of China's largest coal miner Shenhua Group, in the Ningxia project study. "This strategy aligns with a recent notice issued by the National Development and Reform Commission," Sasol said in a statement. The NDRC is China's economic planning agency. Although there has been no official confirmation of a new national policy on CTL in China, a notice on the Web site of Ningxia's planning body earlier Thursday said China would only allow two projects to proceed and all others should be put on ice. Regarding its other feasibility study for a CTL plant in Shaanxi, which would no longer proceed at this stage, Sasol said Shenhua and itself would maintain the good relationships with the province which have been established over many years. The two projects are Sasol's proposed facility in Ningxia and Shenhua's wholly owned plant in Erdos city in Inner Mongolia, which has a planned annual output of 1.08 million metric tons in its first phase before ramping up to 3 million tons. Other Foreign Investors Seeking Access Shenhua's plant is due to be commissioned next month. If confirmed, China's new policy on CTL projects will deal a blow to other foreign investors seeking access to the country's growing market for transport fuels by liquefying coal. In 2006, oil major Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) signed an agreement with Shenhua Ningxia Coal Industry Co., a unit of the Shenhua Group, to conduct a joint study for a CTL project in northwestern China. A Shell spokeswoman said Thursday the company and its Chinese partner remain committed to the project, based on the initial technical study. "Shell and Shenhua Ningxia Coal Industry have agreed to carry (out) further work," she said. Other foreign companies looking to create synthetic fuels in China include Total SA (TOT), which says on its Web site it is currently in talks with Chinese companies about possible CTL projects. Creating synthetic fuels such as gasoline and diesel from coal has been widely studied in China, given the country's dependency on crude oil imports. Potential oil output from the scores of plants with CTL technology that are currently under construction or on the drawing board in China could meet 10% of the country's total oil consumption, analysts say. However, critics say the technology uses too much water, and greenhouse gas emissions are higher than those at conventional refineries. Furthermore, China has suffered a shortage of coal in recent months, resulting in brownouts in cities as thermal power generators are forced to take capacity offline. Widespread use of CTL technology could reduce the supply of thermal coal available to the market if coal production doesn't keep pace with demand. -By David Winning, Dow Jones Newswires; 8610-65885848; david.winning@dowjones.com Thursday August 28th, 2008 / 17h42 Source : Dowjones Business News

To: Dennis Roth who wrote (904)	8/29/2008 9:09:39 AM
From: Dennis Roth	Respond to of 1740

UPDATE 2-China suspends all but two coal-to-oil projects Thu Aug 28, 2008 7:10am EDT reuters.com (Adds comment, background; paragraphs 7, 10-15) By Rujun Shen SHANGHAI, Aug 28 (Reuters) - China has ordered the suspension of all but two coal-to-oil projects as it strives to curb excess investment in the sector and ease tight coal supply, according to the planning commission of a coal-rich northwestern region. The exceptions to the suspension are a project due for launch in Inner Mongolia this year by Shenhua Group, China's largest coal producer, and a second belonging to Shenhua's Ningxia Coal Industry Group and Sasol Ltd (SOLJ.J: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) which has yet to break ground, the Ningxia Development and Reform Commission said on its website (www.nxdrc.gov.cn). Shenhua's project would be the first in the world to put direct liquefaction technology into commercial production. The second project will use indirect liquefaction technology, which South African Sasol, the world's largest maker of oil from coal, has developed and used for decades. China, the world's largest coal producer and consumer, a few years ago began encouraging coal-to-oil projects to help ease its dependence on imported crude oil. But tight coal supplies and surging prices have triggered the worst power shortages since 2004, and made water-intensive industrial projects that divert coal less attractive. The National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planning agency, recently issued a circular asking local governments to tighten administration of coal-to-oil projects, the Ningxia bureau said. Chen Liang, an analyst at Ping An Securities said: "Coal-to-oil projects are highly risky because of technology problems. And the planned projects are all in arid regions, and would be a big threat to the environment." China should find the most suitable way of developing coal-to-oil operations via demonstration projects before moving on to the next step, the statement said. A number of coal-to-oil projects have already been approved and some are under construction. Yitai Coal Co (900948.SS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the second largest coal producer in Inner Mongolia, told Reuters in April it expected to start operations this fall of a plant that would turn coal to 160,000 tonnes of oil products a year. Jian Qinge, secretary of board of directors of Yitai Coal, said the company's project was still ongoing and it was not on the list of companies ordered to suspend construction. "We have got approval from government authorities and you can not simply suspend a project in which so much money has been invested," she said. Other companies that have received approval to develop coal-to-oil projects include Yankuang Group, parent of Yanzhou Coal Mining Co (1171.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), and Lu'an Group, parent of Lu'an Environmental Energy Development Co (601699.SS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz). Shenhua also had received approval to build another coal-to-oil project with Sasol in Shaanxi Province, neighbouring Ningxia, the official Xinhua News Agency reported in June. Shenhua, Yankuang Group or Lu'an Group could not be reached for immediate comment. It is not clear whether the order would impact coal-to-chemical projects. (Additional reporting by Niu Shuping; editing by Sharon Lindores) © Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved