China to focus on two CTL projects

China’s central government has officially approved two coal-to-liquid (CTL) projects in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, namely the direct CTL project by the Shenhua Group and the indirect coal-to-oil joint project by Ningxia Coal (now a subsidiary of the Shenhua Group) and South Africa’s Sasol Ltd., according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). Except for the two CTL projects in Ningxia, NDRC has stopped approving all other CTL projects, the release said. 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 per day, fully integrated CTL plant in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Each with a total investment of 30 billion yuan (US$4.38 billion), the direct coal-to-oil project are both scheduled to have three million metric tons per year of oil product output. Shenhua’s direct CTL project is scheduled to go into trial operation in October. (September 1, 2008)