China's coal-to-liquid plant eyes expansion

China’s largest coal producer, the Shenhua Group Co. Ltd., plans to expand its first coal-to-liquids plant to 6 million tons a year by 2010, state media reported. The firm aims to start the first phase of the giant project in northern China’s Inner Mongolia, by the end of 2007, the report said. When completed, this phase, costing RMB24.5 billion (US$3.15 billion), would produce 3.2 million tons of liquid fuels a year. The report gave no investment value for the expansion plans. China, the world’s second-largest oil-user and seeking to cut its growing dependence on imports, expects the project to meet a tenth of its needs by 2020. Shenhua Group is the parent of Hong Kong-listed Shenhua Energy Co. (January 28, 2007)