Damon Evans, SINGAPORE: China is primed to bring on line a new gas stream as it forges ahead with coal-to-gas technology (CTG). And the plan has the potential to produce enough fuel to rival future volumes of imported liquefied natural gas (LNG).
China has only modest oil and gas reserves, but plenty of coal, which the government aims to harness to fuel its rapid industrial expansion. The world’s biggest energy consumer produced 3.16 billion tonnes of coal in 2010, according to World Coal Association data, almost half the world’s production and three times more than the 932 million tonnes mined by the US, the second-largest producer.
It makes perfect sense for China to exploit its vast coal reserves – pegged at 114.5 billion tonnes at the end of 2010, or 93.3%...