Refining oil from coal could be big win- win

MANY North Queensland people and the Queensland LNP want to build a new HELE coalpower plant to help boost the nation’s energy supplies.

Why not also build a new oil refinery that refines oil from coal? In South Africa, they have done this since the 1960s but it has never been done in Australia despite our huge coal reserves.

South Africa’s refining oil from coal industry has greatly reduced their dependence on importing crude oil and the South African company SASOL is a world leader in this industry.

Despite Australia’s huge coal reserves, there is no refinery that refines oil from coal and there should be a major facility of this kind. Why not build a new major refinery that refines oil from coal near Townsville?

This plant could help reduce Australia’s dependence on imported crude oil and it could be a major boost to the local economy and could create hundreds of new local jobs.

With support from the Queensland Government, maybe this facility could be a joint venture with an Australian consortium and South Africa’s SASOL Corp.

This refinery could be a very profitable venture for all parties involved and it would reduce Australia’s dependence on imported crude oil.

It would be a win- win project for everyone involved and would be great for NQ overall.

The sooner Australia has a refinery like this, the better. MALCOLM WEBSTER,

Boronia, Victoria.