As the owner of one of the world-leading gasification technologies, the BGL (British Gas Lurgi) process, we will develop, own and operate coal-to-gas conversion plants to produce (cost competitive) synthesis gases and natural gas from coal. The technology was originally developed by the Lurgi Group, and in the 1980’s through a large scale program with British Gas, further improved into the worlds most efficient and feedstock-flexible gasification technology. The benefits of this process include the production of synthesis gases and the possibility to sequester and capture CO₂, thereby allowing the use of coal without releasing large amounts of harmful CO₂ emissions.  This opens up a significant opportunity in using the captured CO₂ for the purpose of enhanced oil recovery (EOR), a well developed and proven method to increase the production of crude oil. Another major advantage to industrial consumers of natural gas is the possibility for the reduction of gas price volatility under long-term contracts.

In the U.S., our subsidiary Allied Syngas Corp, based in Wayne, PA, recently announced a joint venture with Great Northern Power Development L.P. to build an estimated $1.4 billion coal gasification project at South Heart in North Dakota to produce pipeline quality synthetic natural gas. The project also anticipates the use of CO₂ for enhanced oil recovery in surrounding regions.