Reuters: China's Sinopec to push on with $10 bln coal-to-gas plan

Sinopec Corp is pushing ahead with plans to build China's largest plant to convert coal into synthetic gas, shaking off worries the $10 billion scheme could be hit by cost overruns that have dogged similar projects.

The world's top energy user has made largely untested coal-to-gas (CTG) technology a key part of its strategy to boost the use of cleaner fuels as it battles pollution in its big cities.

With production from conventional gas fields struggling to keep up with demand, China has increasingly relied on imports piped in from Central Asia plus long-term supply deals for liquefied natural gas.

But Beijing aims to dampen its dependence on imports by using gas converted from coal to supply 12 percent of the world's No.4 gas market by 2020, up from virtually nothing now. MORE