Sasol in China Amid Record Prices
More Coal-To-Liquids News as the world's leader in CTL, Sasol, looks to China. The woman to the right is Faye Cranmer, Managing Director of Sasol Petroleum and one of the world's most powerful women.The idea is the same as it's been for years. Oil (and natural gas) is increasingly scarce and expensive and nearly all estimates of future production indicate that it simply will not be able to supply the globe's demand for transport fuel at an affordable price. Coal is cheap and abundant, and with some intensive and costly chemical manipulation can be made into the special group of hydrocarbon chemicals required to run the world's billion internal and turbine combustion engines.
So, as of today, how much cheaper is coal in China? For scale, a car getting about 25mpg uses 8000 BTU to go a single mile. Also, a dollar presently trades for 7.5 Yuan.
Oil quotes for a record high of 5,000 Yuan per metric ton, which comes to 8,000 BTU/Yuan. Natural Gas does a lot better at nearly 18,000 BTU/Yuan. But Coal, according to Forbes, even if the most expensive area of Guangzhou, crushes all by delivering 34,000 BTU per Yuan, and about 50,000 at the mine. If that doesn't make China's interest (and the rest of the world's interest too!) in CTL obvious, I don't know what would.
Mining Weekly Reports:
South Africa has as many barrels of oil equivalent in its coal
reserves as Saudi Arabia has in its oil reserves, says Sasol CEO
Pat Davies.
Davies says that Sasols strategy is to replicate what it is doing in Secunda by building other hubs in South Africa and around the world, based on coal and natural gas.
He says that Sasols strategic framework needs to be viewed in the context of the broader global oil-and-gas industry landscape, where there have been key macro shifts.
One of those macro shifts is the move into a higher oil price paradigm.
The oil price is remaining high, which is of great benefit to the Sasol strategy, says Davies.
... Among the main alternatives are coal and gas, which he says offer more energy security than oil because of the far larger reserves of coal and gas in the world than reserves of oil.
... 80% of the worlds oil is in nine countries that represent only 5% of the worlds population and 5% of global gross domestic product (GDP).
This is in stark contrast to coal, in that the six countries that host 80% of the worlds coal reserves also host 45% of the worlds population and 46% of global GDP.
... The world is running out of energy. Coal must play into that space.
We cant prevent those developing countries from expanding and growing because of energy shortages.
... Sasol still has no serious competitor in CTL, although several CTL studies are under way.
Davies says that Sasols strategy is to replicate what it is doing in Secunda by building other hubs in South Africa and around the world, based on coal and natural gas.
He says that Sasols strategic framework needs to be viewed in the context of the broader global oil-and-gas industry landscape, where there have been key macro shifts.
One of those macro shifts is the move into a higher oil price paradigm.
The oil price is remaining high, which is of great benefit to the Sasol strategy, says Davies.
... Among the main alternatives are coal and gas, which he says offer more energy security than oil because of the far larger reserves of coal and gas in the world than reserves of oil.
... 80% of the worlds oil is in nine countries that represent only 5% of the worlds population and 5% of global gross domestic product (GDP).
This is in stark contrast to coal, in that the six countries that host 80% of the worlds coal reserves also host 45% of the worlds population and 46% of global GDP.
... The world is running out of energy. Coal must play into that space.
We cant prevent those developing countries from expanding and growing because of energy shortages.
... Sasol still has no serious competitor in CTL, although several CTL studies are under way.
Comments