Coal- to- oil project starts operations in Inner Mongolia

An indirect coal- to- oil project operated by Inner Mongolia Yitai Group Co has started operations in Erdos, North China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the Economic Information Daily reported Monday.

As a model project in the industry, its cost exceeded 29 billion yuan ($ 4.2 billion).

Its annual output is forecast at 2.15 million tons of oil products and liquefied natural gas, the report said. The project will use domestic industrial technology.

The project will be specifically operated by Inner Mongolia Yitai CTO Co, an advanced technology company that is 9.5 percent owned by Inner Mongolia Yitai Group Co.

Intended to promote the clean use of coal and help the structural adjustment of the local economy, the opening of the project was approved by the National Development and Reform Commission at the end of last year, according to a statement on the company’s website.

The company operated a coal-to- oil project with annual output of 160,000 tons in 2006, at which the first qualified barrel of oil was produced, according to the company.

The implementation of the Yitai project will enhance the transformation of traditional coal enterprises and accelerate the upgrading of China’s product oil quality, according to industry insiders, the report said.

China’s coal- to- oil capacity utilization reached 58.6 percent in 2016, up 20 percentage points year- on- year, according to a report released by the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation in April.