GreatPoint, China Wanxiang Sign Coal-to-Gas Deal

Massahcusetts-based GreatPoint Energy has signed a $1.25bn deal with China Wanxiang Holdings to convert coal into natural gas in China.

The companies will build a large-scale plant that will take coal mined from the Gobi desert, convert it to gas and transport it to the country’s growing urban areas, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The first phase of the project will be completed in 2015, at which point the plant’s energy production is expected by the companies to make up around 0.5 percent of China’s energy needs. Following the construction of the first plant, GreatPoint Energy and China Wanxiang Holdings hope to build similar plants elsewhere around Asia and the globe