China To Build One of Country's Largest Coal-to-Natural Gas Projects

Earlier this year MDW noted, from Reuters:

The Alberta government said on Monday it canceled C$285 million ($278 million) in funding for a carbon-capture project tied to a proposed synthetic natural gas plant, the second withdrawal of such an environmental initiative in less than a year.

Alberta said the privately held company planning the project, Swan Hills Synfuels, has delayed it because lower-than-expected North American gas prices have made producing coal-to-gas fuel uneconomical.

In China, it is a different story. China announced that it will be building a huge, $11 billion, coal-to-gas facility. Reuters is reporting:

China's state energy giant Sinopec Group envisages investing 70 billion yuan ($11.3 billion) to build the country's largest coal-to-gas project in 8-10 years to meet a rising demand for natural gas, a newspaper said on Sunday. 

Coal-to-gas production facilities in Zhundong in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang will have annual production capacity of 8 billion cubic metres of gas (bcm) .... Coal extracted from two mines in Zhundong will be used to feed coal-to-gas production facilities nearby, the daily said. The coal mines have annual production capacity of 15 million tonnes each. 

Something tells me Sinopec will have no trouble with the permitting process. The CO2 emissions, I imaging, will flow eastward over Portland, OR.