Other than tell you this is a good financial opportunity, this article provides little context for the repercussions of this technology. In the U.S., at least, the coal industry has lobbied for taxpayer underwriting to transform millions of tons of coal into diesel and other liquid fuels. The expensive, inefficient process releases large quantities of carbon dioxide. The total emissions rate for oil and gas fuels is about 27 pounds of carbon dioxide per gallon, counting both production and use, while the estimated total emissions from coal-derived fuel is more like 50 pounds of carbon dioxide per gallon. Additionally, the coal-to-liquid plants would accelerate the destruction of mountains in Appalachia unless surface mining ... More »

(Discloser: I own a little Sasol stock, not too proudly.) The article is not very informative of the global climate change implications of the increased carbon footprint of such technologies as coal-to-liquids and tar sands mining. It ignores the story of recent reluctance of financial institutions to finance coal plants, anticipating carbon taxes and lawsuits. It mentions Sasol, which has many large conventional petroleum and coal operations, versus other firms which are more centered on the coal-to-liquid technology, should you wish to sell them short.

Highly topical article that explores an area everybody is paying more attention to these days -- energy supplies.

This investor's guide to coal to liquids shows how narrow and short term values dominate energy players. It details the use of CTL by South African company Sasol and its Chinese ally Shenhua. It admits that carbon capture and storage will be necessary for the technology to meet U.S. standards, and may need big help there from BP or Chevron. It also concludes that it may not be able to compete with "clean coal", solar or nuclear, although it has the advantage of not contributing to food price increases. There are copious links to sources.

This appears to be a blog from Big Oil rather than informative journalism. It misses the big issues, such as: the fact that we (at least in the USA) are still living in the throes of a "frontier hangover;" the fact that Big Oil has such a strangle hold on world finances, that they have never had to internalize the external cost of doing business; the fact that Big Oil has monopolized the lobbying to keep windfall profits from being taxed to support alternative energy. Where 80-90% of vehicles on the road have only one person in them, one person, one horse, that's a frontier hangover. This article made no reference to usage patterns, and other useful information regarding CTL that might have rounded out this short discussion.