Center

2 coal-to-oil plants to be built

By Wang Ying (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-07-12 08:24

Both sides have yet to decide how to retail their products but  Yan Guohui, a senior engineer with Shenhua Ningxia, said one option would be to set up joint service stations with Shell or sell to the country's top two oil firms, Sinopec and PetroChina.

"Talks haven't gone that far, and we will elaborate on the retailing details later," Lim told reporters yesterday at Yinchuan, capital of Ningxia.

Another similar project is also being planned in Ningxia between Shenhua and Sasol, one of the global leaders in coal liquefaction technologies.

Shenhua last month signed a co-operation agreement with Sasol to develop an 80,000 bpd coal-to-oil plant in Ningxia.

"The two plants are almost the same in terms of technology, investment and timescale," said Wang Jian, president of Shenhua Ningxia.

Qi said the Sasol plant might begin operation "months" after   Shell, in 2012.
While the two Ningxia plants adopt the overseas indirect technology, Shenhua will test its own direct technology  which turns coal into oil products without the gasification process  in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

The plant, located at the Ordos Basin, is expected to come on stream as early as the end of next year, Shenhua Vice-President Zhang Yuzhuo said earlier.

A pioneer in developing the coal-to-oil business in China, Shenhua aims to convert coal into 30 million tons of oil products at eight plants in four northern provinces by 2020.

China is expected to use 115 million tons of petrol and diesel by 2010, a figure expected to reach 216 million tons by 2020, Zhang said last month.