Initial environmental approval granted to US$8.8 bln Sasol-Shenhua coal to fuel project

08-Mar-11

China has granted initial environmental approval to a US$8.8 bln project by South African petrochemical firm Sasol and China's top coal producer Shenhua Group to turn coal into fuels. This has driven the project closer to final approval from the top economic steering body, the National Development & Reform Commission (NDRC), after nearly a decade of talks between the two companies. The project, to be built in north China's Ningxia region, plans to make 3.16 mln tons of diesel and 655,500 tpa of naphtha.