China drafts plan for ambitious coal-to-liquid fuel program

China has drafted a bold plan to convert its abundant coal reserve into enough liquid fuel to meet a tenth of its demand by 2020 as Beijing seeks to cut its growing dependence on imports, official media reported in December. China, the world’s top producer and consumer of coal, plans to spend more than RMB1 trillion (US$127 billion) converting coal into 30 million tons of fuels, 8 million tons of olefins, 20 million tons of dimethyl ether (DME) and 66 million tons of methanol by 2020, the Shanghai Securities News said. These investments, if carried out, would boost domestic supplies of fuels and petrochemicals significantly and reduce imports. China now imports some 45% its crude oil needs and more than half its petrochemicals consumption. The coal-to-fuel projects would meet 10% of China’s refined fuel demand and coal-to-olefins would cover 11% of total consumption of olefins, building blocks for petrochemicals. (December 14, 2006)