$800 MIL COAL-TO-LIQUID PLANT GOES TO CHINA - Financing Unavailable In US

(10/25/2008)
A much touted coal-to-liquids plant that was to have been located in West Virginia is going to China.

Texas-based developer Synthesis Energy Systems and Consol Energy announced this week that SES had pulled out of an $800 million deal to develop a coal gasification plant in West Virginia's Northern Panhandle.

The company was unable to obtain financing in the US, the key to locating the plant in West Virginia.

China was able to provide the financial package, provided the plant was located in China.

Under the deal with Chinese YIMA Coal, SES will own 49 percent of the plant.

SES says bank financing remains accessible in China.