Photo by Petar Milošević
By Jo Nova
Coal, it turns out, is an infinite chemical wellspring, being converted into everything from plastic, to diesel, jet fuel, gas, methanol and fertilizer. There is no way, just no chance, that China will leave this bounty locked underground. And why are we?
The idea of converting coal to liquid fuel sounds like an expensive exotic chemical reaction that is barely used. If people have even heard of it, it’s mainly because the Nazi’s were so desperate for liquid fuel to power their tanks and armored cars, they converted coal in a large plant that became a wartime target in World War II. It produced 92% of Germany’s air fuel, and 50% of its petroleum. Who knew, those Messerschmidts were coal powered? Later South Africa used it in the 1980s in response to an oil embargo, and they still do.
Quietly China has developed a giant coal-to-liquids industry to reduce its strategic vulnerability to an oil shock or a wartime embargo, and the volume is astounding. Accurate numbers are hard to obtain, but the IEA estimates that every year China is converting 380 million tons of coal into fuel, ammonia and fertilizer.
To put that in perspective, Australia is now the second largest exporter of coal in the world, and China is converting more than we export through coal-to-liquids and coal-to-chemicals. This is also more than the USA uses.
China’s coal production is 4,800 million tons each year. Something like 8% of that converted to something else, like petrol, gas, plastic water bottles, synthetic clothes, and fertilizer for food crops.
And they also make diesel.
China’s Coal Industry Has a Big, Dirty Secret
by Javier Blas, Bloomberg, 2nd June 2025
Largely unnoticed, the size of this obscure corner of the Chinese coal industry has reached gargantuan proportions: It consumes about 380 million metric tons of coal as a feedstock for chemical and liquid fuel production, according to the International Energy Agency. To understand its size better, it helps to think about the segment as if it were a country. As such, it would rank as the world’s third-largest consumer, only behind the rest of the Chinese coal sector and India, but ahead of the US, Japan and other top coal-consuming nations like Indonesia and Turkey.
People may think that Coal-to-liquids is only something worth doing if the price of oil is high, but that all changes if you care about energy security. And China clearly does.
The modern part of that processing was largely experimental in the early 2000s. Commercial-scale projects mushroomed in the 2010s, and, after a brief hiatus, more have emerged in recent years, particularly in the Chinese heartland, where the bulk of the country’s coal fields are located far from coastal cities. By now, its scale — which dwarfs all other countries’ coal-to-chemicals production — and growth is surprising even veteran industry observers. Look at some modernized plants and coal is nowhere to be seen: It’s mined underground almost directly beneath the chemical facilities, carried by conveyor into the furnaces where it’s gasified and transformed. From there, it goes into your plastic water bottle or synthetic fabric clothes.
And this vast silent industry is set to double. Such is the demand, reports are that Chinese use of coal-to-liquids is rapidly growing.
Any plans of China giving up coal is pure fantasy.
Chinese alchemy: Cheap fuel powers coal-to-gas and chemicals boom
By Sam Li and Colleen Howe, Reuters, 4 Sept, 2025
Even though China is using less coal for electricity production, it is not using less coal overall. That extra coal is being fed into other energy, industry and agriculture:
China’s Renewable Boom Masks a Quiet Coal-to-Liquids Expansion
China and South Africa are the only countries operating CTL and CTC at an industrial scale.
It is important to note that the largest part of this demand goes into the CTC [Coal to Chemicals] industry. China has effectively replaced gas as its main feedstock for ammonia and methanol production with raw coal, to the extent that roughly 80% of these chemicals’ output is now fed by coal.
China’s largest CTL [Coal to Liquids] facility, the Shenhua Ningxia plant, commissioned in 2016, produces roughly 100,000 b/d of synthetic fuels from approximately 44,000 t/d of coal. By comparison, a conventional refinery would require a third of this amount, equivalent of 14,000 t/d of crude oil to produce a similar volume of refined products. At current prices, coal in Qinhuangdao trades at roughly $105–110 per tonne, while Brent crude equivalent costs about $525 per tonne (at $71/bbl). Even accounting for conversion costs, coal-based synthetic fuels can offer economic advantages, particularly in a volatile oil market.
If we valued energy security, we could have been producing coal to liquids and fertilizer on a smaller scale that was able to be ramped up on short notice. It would be cheap insurance against billions of dollars in losses which threaten entire annual crop cycles, mining production, export income, or even existentially, food distribution, and defense.
Asleep at the wheel in the Lucky Bubble Country.
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I looked for a graphic to show a ton of coal. No luck.
I did find a 3-D looking graphic of millions of tons of stuff, including canned tuna. 🙂
https://flash.esva.net/bt04a.jpg
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Its now 450Mt as of last week. Going to 500Mt next year.
It uses their low quality coal that otherwise would be worth nothing.
Victoria has a whole lot of lignite with lots of volatile content.
There are four processes that can be used to extract the oil. Two tested with pilot plants in Victoria.
The SEC/HRL has some of the data.
We know it works. We know the costs. We know the environmental outcomes.
The latest method uses benign solvents with a yield of 1.1 BoE/raw ton of lignite at an all-in cost of US$28/BoE ex-taxes & government costs.
Victoria has a proven, easily accessed resource of 33 Bt. An inferred resource of 395 Bt and another 1,200 Bt under Bass Strait.
That is 4,800 years of oil at the current Australian use of 1.15 Million barrels/day.
Its C6-C20. Gasoline, diesel, avgas, soil conditioner.
The phenols have been extracted for 30 years.
The solvent process also produces oil from any lemon & orange tree, any plastic bag from coles or just grass from a lawn.
The current Treasurer was informed when she was the Energy Minister. Did nothing. Has a few other bigger problems now.
No point talking with Lily D’Ambrosio as she floats 40ft above the bed. Utterly mad.
The good news for Victorians is we are about to enter into a credit crisis in the middle of a debt, diesel and fertiliser crisis.
God could not save Victoria. 100,000+ families are about to be thrown on the street starting next week. Foreclosure notices delivered last December.
The Liberals are squabbling children but Labor will destroy us.
One Nation…..who knows.
Personally, I believe we should just pay Singapore to run Victoria.
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For those climate change zealots who think we can all change to EVs you just have no idea how much oil is required to manufacture ANY motor vehicle.
Without oil (at the right price and location), ALL manufacturing of ANYTHING will cease.
Take the oil out of coal and the carbon can be used to make –
neutron fuel cells
low-cost superconductors & magnets
harmonic lasers
This already works.
When we have a hundred million robots just a few decades from now why would any of them care what a mad Government dictated.
Robots will not be worried about Government anything.
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Doug Burgum has access to 385 BILLION barrels of oil in his state of North Dakota. The largest potential field in the US. Mix C6-C20 with C60 from Alberta and see what happens. Tar flows.
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I’m down for Singapore getting the job, including all but one of their laws.
They aren’t getting my hair. I hate getting hair cuts, so get one a year.
Other than that, I’m fine.
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It’s time to revisit the book, author David Archibald – Twilight Of Abundance, Why life in the 21st century will be nasty, brutish and short?
“Global Warming? We wish, As Archibald persuasively argues, it’s global cooling which is – and always has been – the far greater threat. And now the worst is almost upon us: rising energy prices; food shortages; cooler summers; and harsher winters. What do we do? Read this terrifying, fascinating, well-informed book, for a start, and act before it’s too late.”.
* How thorium molten-salt reactors, and heretofore undeveloped nuclear technology, could allow us to maintain our living standard for thousands of years to come.
* The four main factors that will determine when China attacks the United States (and I add combined allied defence forces that must be strengthened).
* Transport fuel from coal and used nuclear energy for electricity generators.
Etc
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Reference ANSTO thorium molten-salt reactor technology;
https://www.ansto.gov.au/our-science/nuclear-technologies/reactor-systems/advanced-reactors/anstos-contribution-to
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Copenhagen Atomics have the salt worked out. High purity and no contaminants equal no, or very little, corrosion.
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Finally! the Chinese start doing it and everyone takes notice. SASOL has the most efficient process compared to the Fisher-Tropisch method the Germans used.
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……just pay Singapore to run Victoria.
Beatings with the cane for the herds of malfeasance mongerers?
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John,
I did this exercise many years ago, trying to explain how much coal a power plant consumes.
The coal is crushed to the consistency of talcum powder.
It’s then force injected into the furnace with air (oxygen) to boil water to steam. The steam is then highly pressurised, and it then drives a three stage turbine, with steam outlets feeding back to the furnace/boiler in a huge closed loop to sustain the process.
The furnace in a typical large scale coal fired unit (say around 660MW to 1000MW) will consume a tonne of coal every twelve to sixteen ….. SECONDS.
So then, one tonne of coal.
A man, say around 6 feet tall, (perhaps a tad taller even) stands with his arms outstretched, making an angle of 90 degrees.
A second man, standing immediately opposite with his arms also outstretched, and both men touch fingers with their outstretched arms.
Now, fill that space between them (that theoretical volume) to the top of their heads with the coal.
That is around one tonne of coal.
Tony.
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Meanwhile the climate politics mob want transition to renewable energy and away from fossil fuels???
And Australia has among the world’s best reserves of natural resources of energy and minerals, and exports more energy than we import.
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This coal-to-eggs thing also puts a stake in the heart of the “stranded assets” bullschist. Perhaps there will be a transition to the hard stuff as gas and oil become more difficult and expensive.
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Who knew, those Messerschmidts were coal powered? Everyone.
And what was the objective of the war in Africa and Case Blue into the Caucusus/Stalingrad? A pincer movement to Grozny/Baku and Saudi Arabia/Iran, the world’s oil. To fuel the NAZI war machine. And stop fuel to the Russian war machine. Originally all the world’s oil came from Baku. Oil became black gold.
But we have known since 1860 that hydrocarbons can be broken down. The problem in 1890 was what to do with the top fraction of petrol, which was explosive and near useless. Kerosene and diesel remain the fractions which power the ground.
What is unknown is why Victoria has made every source of power illegal. Nuclear, fracking, gas exploration, coal expansion. The only reason coal is allowed at all is that the government has no other answer for Victoria’s electricity. With no wind and no sun at night, we are cave dwellers. We could start making candles again.
And liquid carbon fuel still supplies twice as much power to Australians as electricity. And for most of the time, electricity is still supplied by coal and gas.
The wholesale destruction of Australia has been underway since 2000, allegedly to prevent Climate Change. Which makes no economic or science sense at all and never did.
It only remains to ban the use of coal and the journey to serfdom will be complete as we will be totally dependent on imported oil products while our coal sits in the ground as it has for hundreds of millions of years. Waiting for the Chinese.
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I went to school before things got really dumbed-down and they started teaching children you could change gender or that the oceans were boiling and similar nonsense etc.. Among other good things, they used to teach science.
I remember doing an experiment in class where we got a small piece of coal, put it in a test tube sealed with a cork stopper and glass tube, heated it with a Bunsen burner, and you could see the coal condensate deposit on the side of the tube. Coal condensate is basically coal tar and ammoniacal liquor and the evolved gas is a combination of methane, hydrogen, ethylene and carbon monoxide and burns.
It used to be a classic school science experiment, back in the day. Today, it wouldn’t happen in woke countries like Australia. I bet they do it in Chinese schools, however.
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Funny thing about all that Bunsen burner usage that we all did.
The white stuff in the wire pads we sat things on was asbestos.
OMG!!!!! We’re all dead because we used asbestos.
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David, they probably don’t even use Bunsen burners in schools any more. Probably too unsafe and all that gas contributes to CLIMATE CHANGE, don’t you know. Maybe they use induction plates mostly powered by coal. It’s Victoria, after all.
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Spot on.
The climate catastrophists are finally reaping the crop they sewed. If Victoria was smart, we would be setting up a coal to gas plant right next to our last remaining power station at Yallourn and re-building Loy Yang with a modern state of the art plant. I think investors would be falling over themselves to get at it now – I will.
And as much as I hate what is happening, it is exactly what has been needed to get rid of the clowns like Black Out B. As an aside I have a diesel; I was going to have it converted to Diesel Gas some time ago, as the process saves up to 20+ percent fuel at the same time as increasing the power by a similar percentage; and it cleans up the valves and crankcase. It is supposed to increase the burn rate/efficiency from somewhere around 50 to 60% up to greater than 75%. Someone will know the figures!
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My 1887 house was plumbed for gas. No electricity. Town gas from coal. Gasometer covered the Melbourne skyline. Gravity fed pressure. The coal came by ship from Newcastle to the gasworks at Port Melbourne. The lagoon pier.
Then we found our own brown coal, 66% water but dried it has the samw power to weight as black coal. Then we found oil and gas offshore. Bonanza.
We knew the natural gas would run out. We were self sufficient in petrol too.
So what provision have we made for the day we ran out? Nothing. But we have been forcing our coal industry out of business and run down the gas reserves and tried to stop exploration, even outlawed using our own carbon. No fracking, no coal seam gas. Illegal. And shut the refineries. Taxed chemicals out of the country. Stopped nuclear and fracking with bans.
What’s Next? Government legislated poverty.
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A home unit property built for the AMP Society in Sydney, one of several investments of that superannuation company for rental accommodation, had hatches on each level for tenants to place garbage into a Shute down to a furnace in the basement and the hot water system was heated with coke delivered to a locked bin alongside the footpath outside. A common hot water service supply system. And town gas later installed for heating water and for unit hot water community use and community laundries on the rooftop observation decks.
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My late mother’s apartment had one.
The residents were not allowed to use it due to liability issues in case someone decided to jump off or do some other stupid thing.
Her apartment also had a garbage disposal chute but the rubbish got collected in plastic bags at the bottom and as they filled the carousel rotated to the next position. When the Left banned supermarket plastic bags which she used to put her garbage in, she then had to buy them for the same job.
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Odd place. You went up there and all you saw was rooftops.
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I forgot about the Gasometers that were all over the town and the smell of the gas was distinctive. They disappeared in the 70’s. The ‘Gaso’ pub still exists in Collingwood.
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Therein lies the problem. The government prioritises green fantasy projects above energy security and the masses are ignorant to the depth of its incompetence (or should that be corruption?).
Interesting to note that recently the MSM, particularly the ABC, has recently changed how it refers to Big Wind Bowen. Rather than being referred to as the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, he is now just the Energy Minister. They neglect to mention he has long been neglecting the energy aspect of his portfolio. Suddenly he has to put off catering arrangements for COP OUT 31 and do his frigging job.
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Well spotted JR – I will stand in the corner for 10 minutes for making such a ridiculous statement: “If Vic was smart…’. I used to refer to Big Wind as the little nodding donkey, with no disrespect to the pumps used for oil wells. Watch him nod with such authority – he would put the Late Andrew Peacock – who was expert at it – to shame!
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Woman Labor Chief Minister of the ACT in the 1990s was known as “Noddy”, because she would nod her head even while saying “No”.
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Indian then.
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Technology coal to transport fuel used later by South Africa when the UN apartheid sanctions on exports to SA were imposed
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“What is unknown is why Victoria has made every source of power illegal.”
Sociopathy and raw malice?
For starters?
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From coal liquefaction to gasoline,
From coal-gas to coal-tar to benzene,
From coke-gas methanol,
And syngas ethanol,
Also coke calcium carbide to acetylene.
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Can you imagine trying to build a coal to liquids plant in Australia?
It would face the same regulatory hurdles as anything else that’s useful.
No problem getting approval for useless and economy-destroying infrastructure like windmill, solar or battery plantations however.
It would be like getting a second Sydney Airport which took 50 years of planning and approvals, or a nuclear power reactor, or a dam, or a pipeline, drilling for oil, or even a new coal or other mine etc..
It’s just not going to happen given consideration of trade unions, NIMBY syndrome, politicians, the Left and their powerful anti-energy lobby, tribute payable for land rights claims, over-regulation, demand for carbon credit tribute, sudden “discovery” of some supposedly rare or endangered species, sudden claim of a United Nations world heritage area or invocation of some other globalist UN treaty or agreement that no one even knew about, Australia’s chief “scientific” activist body CSIRO recommending against it, endless lawfare, violent protests and sabotage from unemployable Leftists, incompetent, ignorant and stupid politicians and senior public serpents etc..
In short, it’s just not going to happen.
The powerful forces against Australian progress would assure that we continue to regress until such time another power who needs our under-utilised land resources decides that they need them more than we do.
But vote for Australia’s only significant conservative party, One Nation, and we might have a chance.
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“Can you imagine trying to build a coal to liquids plant in Australia?”
Well, yes. Before Bass strait gas came on line about 30% of Victorias gas was produced from brown coal. Don’t know what was done with the bye products but a coal to gas plant operated in the Latrobe Valley.
Once again the politicians have very clearly chosen to put ideology over practicality. They all believe of course that when the transition back to serfdom is complete they will be the ones in charge. They should have a quick word with Robespierre about how things can go wrong.
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” Can you imagine trying to build a coal to liquids plant in Australia?”
Back about 20 odd years ago, there was a pilot shale to oil plant in Gladstone, they got one or two batches of hydrocarbon out before the usual suspects got it shut down, because of dust.
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Premier Allan just got an AI data centre approved in 75 days. I expect she would estimate a coal to liquid plant project would take 75 years to build.
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Start with UN Lima Protocol 1975, UN Agenda 21 1990.
Then all the red, green and black tape regulations States and Federal compliance costs and hurdles to jump over for development applications.
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We should no longer ask for permission
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According to Gulag AI, current gasoline costs in China which reflect recent price rises (which I guess are geared to international prices) are A$1.85 to A$2.05 per litre or US$5.05 to US$5.45 per US gallon.
Apparently the Chinese Government has intervened to cushion the price rise to some extent.
In contrast Australua’s Dear Leader Al-bozo refuses to temporarily reduce petrol taxes. The Elites won’t be affected by petrol shortages so why would they bother?
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I think the first place to run out of petrol should be Canberra and the ACT, they should lead by example!
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Surely the delivery drivers could organise a slow day.
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The waste product from coal to liquid conversion is a low quality, high ash product that nevertheless still contains 14-30MJ/kg of energy and can be burned or co-burned in a power station.
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30MJ/kg is actually a quite high Specific Energy. Even 15MJ/kg is considered reasonably adequate for domestic power generation. The limiting factor is water content.
The LaTrobe lignites are around 15MJ/kg with a high water content (40-70%), so the power plants are designed for co-existence. The conveyor belts traverse directly from actual mineface production to the plant boiler piles.
Well over 30 years ago, a German group thoroughly examined the lignite to liquid possibilities at LaTrobe (we were required to guarantee the Resource/Reserve estimates for the various quality fractions being examined). That group were genuinely expert at the technology and economic constraints on lignite to liquids.
The essential conclusion to this was a high resultant product price, but as pointed out in the opening comments to this article, a debilitating shortage of liquid fuels (such as we are facing now) can change that equation.
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And, even then, the residual “fly-ash is useful as a concrete additive, not unlike the pozzolan volcanic ash used by the Romans over 2,000 years ago.
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Back in the day there were coal to liquid research programs in Australia such as the Monash Energy Project (Shell and Anglo American), Altona Resources and Linc Energy but they have all been abandoned as Government emphasis is on “Low Carbon Liquid Fuels”. (Not sure how you can have petrol or diesel with “low carbon”.)
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Old joke:
In old Africa Missionary noted that converted John was eating meat on Friday.
When challenged, John wasn’t repentant pointing out that when he was baptised the Missionary had sprinkled water on him and said “that from now on, you will be called John”.
So, said John, I sprinkled water on the meat and said “that from now on, you will be called fish”.
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I hope Lib/Lab/Green voting Australians are about to enjoy their glimpse of an Australia with shortages of, or no petrol and diesel and all that goes with that, like no food.
And absolutely no plans to do anything about it.
No Lefties, large scale farming with electric tractors or food delivery trucks doesn’t cut it.
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The up side of “ no fuels “ will be no fertilisers & therefore no agriculture. This of course
fits perfectly into the green narrative. In addition the farmers will leave the rivers alone as well….. they won’t need water because all the farting cattle will also be gone.
The rest of us will have to eat greens, maybe even the two legged ones as well.
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Soylent Green.
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David you ignore that the sequence of events effectively hog tied the Coalition and involves all three levels of government following the UN climate politics agreements and treaties by passing legislation and regulations.
Howard did not make 1997 emissions target technologies mandatory and let the market players decide if investors identified profitable ventures, and stated clearly that the economy must not be damaged in the process.
Rudd and Gillard from 2007 legislated Renewable Energy Target 32% and transition including away from fossil fuels. They wanted an emissions trading scheme and planned to join Australia to the EU ETS but decided instead after 2010 introduced carbon tax on electricity bills and admitted 10% of that 10% would be remitted to the UNIPCC. They also quietly introduced a renewable energy levy on Service To Property hidden charges.
Late 2013 to 2015 Abbott tried to repeal the RET legislation but was blocked in the Senate, they did however agree to abolish carbon tax.
Coalition (ghost squad period excepted as the leader agreed with PM Rudd/Gillard legislation and emissions trading policy) were forced to work around the legislation and regulations Federal and State and there are many examples of what they did, notably Morrison Government 2018-2022.
I am not trying to convey an impression that Coalition was perfect, the left influence in particular has been a damaging factor.
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If the Liberals (fake conservatives) were smart and wanted to win future elections, but they’re neither smart nor do they want to win elections, they would be offering alternative plans to deal with the fuel crisis, which can only get worse.
Plans they could offer include Australian storage using disused oil tankers (a done thing in proper countries) or fast tracking a coal to liquids plant.
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And of course opening up oil exploration in most currently banned areas, like offshore Sydney Basin, banned by ScoMo.
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And the latest news is;
A controversial gas drilling project proposed just off the NSW coast has been blocked by a joint federal and NSW state panel, with federal Minister for Industry and Science Ed Husic citing public interest and doubts about the companies’ ability to fund the work.
The decision to refuse the applications for the PEP-11 offshore exploration permit comes as south-east Australia is facing looming shortages of domestic gas, meaning the region is expected to start relying on LNG imports within the next few years.
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“….doubts about the companies’ ability to fund the work.”
The work or the kickbacks?
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If you need the expertise SouthAfrica has an abundance of expertise in “ coal to liquids”
technology. The non politically correct phrase is “oil from coal”. Sasol, South Africa’s plants have been running for 30 years or so.
Their bulk oil storage consists of really deep holes in the ground known as disused coal mines, up to 10 of them all interconnected to refineries by pipelines! Oil doesn’t pollute the ground as the mines are partially filled with water to control liquid levels. Oil floats on water, remember.
That’s expertise for you.
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I’ve been saying for a long time that Australia needs a lot of pain in order to learn. My Logistics mind tells me that around Easter we will likely, in effect, run out of diesel. The Nation will STOP. The ASX will crash and trading will be suspended. After that all bets will be off. There will be food shortages, services shortages and hopefully mass layoffs from useless Gummint jobs. Real Estate prices will fall and our too big to fail banks will follow. Then Sovereign defaults…
With our debt levels there will be little in the way of fiscal stimulus, unless we want 10, 15, 20% inflation. Which maybe da Gummint wants? The only stimulus available will be tax and regulatory relaxation for Investors.
It needs to get that bad before we can shake off gangreen ideology. If not now, when?
And yes, hopelessly simplistic and full of holes, but you get the idea.
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Australia has plenty of gas and oil. No need to convert coal.
It has been apparent to me for some time that there are many stupid Australians. Possibly the best example is the voters in McMahon electorate. They voted for Blackout FIVE TIMES. How could this ignorant incompetent get elected five times.
Australians have to realise that a vote for Labor or LNP is a vote for UN stooges willing to destroy Australia’s standard of living.
Their ABC have been on strike. These imbeciles think that they provide something of value. They are the Australian propaganda arm of the UN bureaucrats in New York. They are complicit in destruction of the Australian economy.
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The ABC are on strike???
Who knew???
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How can you tell ??
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The world has been less annoying for a couple of days
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The 7 pm evening “news program” was from the BBC?
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I listen occasionally just so I know what they’re up to.
Since being on strike (on radio) they’ve just been doing reruns of old programs but it’s just the same old drek so most wouldn’t notice.
In fact, apart from their “news” (lies) programs, one wouldn’t notice a difference, they could stay on strike permanently and save the taxpayer a fortune.
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Rick, you forgot about old Klaus at the WEF. How many WEF acolytes are members of the LNP?? Not mention WEF acolytes in the ALP!!
We’re in real deep doo doo mate!
Remember “ you will own nothing and you will be happy “!!! Or else???
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“Possibly the best example is the voters in McMahon electorate. They voted for Blackout FIVE TIMES. How could this ignorant incompetent get elected five times.”
The muppet was the Minister for Not Stopping the Boats in Krudds govt, in fact most of the Albanese govt are recycled Kruddsters
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Thanks again to Jo for trying to keep us up to date about the latest technology used by China and yet we still sit on our hands and do nothing.
We could be doing this in Australia but alas we have to rely on toxic, unreliable, super expensive W & S and have no reliable energy security and therefore no national security as well.
Until Aussies wake up and understand the data we’ll become a much poorer country and Indonesia and China etc could make their move at any time of their choosing. Who knows when that could be, but we’ll be sitting ducks if we don’t wake up soon and understand the available data.
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If anyone is saying the trouble in the Middle East will soon be over & the supply issues will disappear & “ she’ll be right mate “ They’re more delusional than ever.
The war could stop today & nothing will change. Today it’s Iran, yesterday it was Gaza, before that it was Syria etc, etc, etc.
The Middle East will be a cesspit of war & fighting for the foreseeable future. But Australian governments, ALP or LNP or whatever can’t or won’t see that we dare not ignore the current warnings about dependence on others for any essential commodities which in reality can be produced in Australia. WHY?? Just to satisfy the whims of a befuddled minority of Green wets??
Big nasty lessons are just around the corner!! By the way the same applies to renewables!!
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The solution for the M.E. troubles could be to build a massive wall around it, let them fight it out, open the gate in a hundred years time and see who walks out.
(Plan B – build the wall and fill with with water – desalinated of course.)
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Why don’t we try to explain to Aussie voters about the grid instability that will eventually be caused by W & S?
Energy expert Kathryn Porter tried to educate Scottish voters this month and warn them of the looming energy crisis when they close their remaining baseload energy in about 5 years.
This speech is long but just reading the first 10 minutes allows the lay person to further understand some of the problems we’ll experience in the future.
https://www.netzerowatch.com/all-news/scotland-energy-crisis
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Here’s a recent interview with Katherine Porter where she tries to warn the stupid western countries about the problems caused by using unreliable energy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h77C3iYX_bM
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Most of our fertiliser and all of our Adblue is imported,
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Great article Jo, I knew that Victoria had pilot plants for this process but never knew China had ramped it up so much. Makes sense. Australia was once an innovating country, not anymore. Much easier to send an email to order another shipload of urea, diesel or petrol from an overseas supplier. They can do all that yucky stuff. Thank god our miners and farmers are still relatively untouched by government oversight. But there are dark clouds on the horizon.
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I had a look to see what are Australia’s key economic risks and found this on the government web site:
https://www.pmc.gov.au/resources/corporate-plan-2025-26/part-2-operating-environment/australias-economic-and-fiscal-outlook
All BS about a UN contrived hoax and the Strait of Hormuz or energy security not even mentioned.
How come that womanising, climate denying POTUS Trump can identify energy security as the most vital factor facing the global economy and yet all those assembled experts in Canberra prattle on about NetZero and weather events forecast for 2050. I believe the kindest word is delusional.
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How about some “Made in Australia” liquid fuels?
Their ignorance, BS and ideological commitment to a lie is simply staggering.
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‘…strengthening Australia’s supply chain resilience…’ Seeing that in action in real time now aren’t we?
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Will this fuel crisis be the wakeup call Australia needs?
Or will Australians just proceed in ignorant bliss, as usual, and then wonder why there’s no food on supermarket shelves?
Have you stocked up?
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Diesel is selling for $3.19/l in our area. There is a noticeable reduction in traffic.
I expect travel over Easter will be well down on usual – more like COVID era.
The crunch for the various governments will come when (if) supermarket shelves are bare. There is already some sign of that. It could well be worse in Australia than the rest of the world.
I expect it will take three months before the riots get serious. However Canberra will be protected because no one will be able to travel to Canberra and the buses in Canberra will not have diesel then.
There will be much effort put into ensuring government is secure enough with fuel for police and security service. So like all good socialists, the government agencies will garner what they need to live well why the population struggle just to survive.
When there is a fuel crisis, the tyranny of distance could well become a factor for Australia. It is why Australia built an independent, self-sufficient economy. Now all but de-industrialised.
I know the bureaucrats in Canberra are incapable of waking up. Look at their ABC striking this week. Shows how disconnected they are.
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I expect it will take three months before the riots get serious.
Perhaps the fuel shortages / total unavailability will limit the rioting to the urban areas?
For once living 300 km from the state capital will be an advantage?
And more than 2000 km from Canberra?
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I paid $3.60/litre this morning NSW Mid North Coast, several service stations not too far apart and all with fuel, no shortage.
For the time being I intend to fill up every 5-7 days and remain in town limits
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Sorry $2.60/litre
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‘I expect it will take three months before the riots get serious.’
Highly unlikely, rationing would obviously become the order of the day before that happened.
The big hit is the inflationary spike and the people will whinge, but still no riots in the streets. They know instinctively its all Donnie’s fault.
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The crunch for the various governments will come when (if) supermarket shelves are bare.
Learn to cook for your family (one or more)
Stock up on the heavy staple items that will allow you to “disconnect”. I would expect that in WA the power grid will remain functional. I have no intelligent opinion on NEM and suspect no one else does either. And I do wonder what the price of the 45 kg LPG bottles will be.
Can you bake your own cakes/bread? Flour and sugar are heavy.
Stock up on imported spices including the not so obvious ones (black pepper? one 3 hectare farm in Australia)
Or the obvious ones (coffee only about 600 tons is the annual Oz harvest) (Tea?)
May the interesting times be limited in length.
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Australia used to be industrialised around coal to gas when I was a kid. Australia was energy rich then. We still have those same wonderful resources but they are denied to us and exported to countries like China to do what we were doing in the 50’s and 60’s. Sounds like we’ve allowed ourselves to be governed by politicians whose every move seems to be to kick Australia in the guts.
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Note the Japanese dozer.
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File footage.
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https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Komatsu_bulldozer_pushing_coal_in_Power_plant_Ljubljana_(winter_2017).jpg
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A Japanese brand but more than likely built in China. Komatsu have lots of manufacturing sites scattered around the world.
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Even Larry Fink is starting to become more bold on using more common sense about the future.
See at about 48 minutes in the latest “In the Tank” video from the Heartland gang. Of course Larry Fink only has a few trillion $ to throw around.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTE9MamrWwY
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In many things like tourism and energy and manufacturing and farming, our communist politicians seem to be crippling the place intentionally and ramping it up and sending our cash overseas through hidden illegal gaxes likethe Safeguard Merchanism which is never mentioned. Perhaps under direction from Beijing.
Stupidity alone does not explain it. Do Albanese and Wong actually hate Australia? Chips on both shoulders. It sure looks like it.
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How much coal are they burning to drive the conversion? And how much coal are they burning to create the steam for the extra hydrogen?
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The last Defence Strategic Review of any consequence was in 2023. It called for, amongst other items, to increase capability to keep sea lanes open. Also it called for improved logistics and fuel storage mainly in northern Australia.
How has this worked out? What has Albanese’s government achieved in these matters?
Cue crickets!
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Coal to petroleum liquids conversion is usually done via Fischer-Tropsch (1925) process.
It is highly energy intensive. Efficiencies range from 30% to 51%, up to 70% using pure coal under ideal circumstances with advanced catalysts. In other words, you don’t do this at all if liquid petroleum (oil) is available. You only do it if there is no oil, or if excess cheap energy is available, or if money is no object.
“Fischer−Tropsch Synfuels from Biomass: Maximizing Carbon Efficiency and Hydrocarbon Yield”
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ef9009185
The “Syngas” approaches do actually work, but are net energy sinks compared to traditional petroleum/oil refining processes. If energy security absent petroleum availability is the situation, then perfectly understandable. But only if cheap coal is available.
The CTL (Coal to Liquids) rabbit hole is fascinating, but irrelevant IF oil is available.
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Think beyond existing chemical technology and think a genetically enhanced bio-engineering processes where liquid fuels are a by-product.
Think of coal as “heritage compost” an extremely valuable organic raw material too valuable to be just burned.
Not to forget the mountains of shale-oil deposits that can also that could be bio-processed processed.
All science fiction?
No. Science waiting to be funded to be discovered and developed like every other past science breakthrough.
Note:
China already has a substantive head start on such technology.
China as a “business” looks at the national balance sheet 20 – 50 years in the future.
We look at next years or the next election cycle.
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From one Graham to another….
Google Sasol Chemicals for a run down on the oil from coal, fertilisers from coal, anything you can think of from coal. Sasol has been doing it since the 1950’s in South Africa. No longer necessary to scratch your head about the possibilities. It has been done & going on for many years.
The same can be achieved here in Oz once the destructive green philosophies are extinguished for good!
Sasol is listed on the Johannesburg & New York stock exchanges!
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PM Scott Morrison from late 2018 to 2022, Energy Minister Angus Taylor, they saved 2 of 4 of the last 6 oil refineries here from closing down and were investigating private sector involvement in a new oil refinery venture.
Also;
https://australiainstitute.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/P1359-New-fossil-fuel-projects-on-major-projects-list-and-emissions-WEB.pdf
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I had also read/heard that Taylor was investigating building oil/fuel storage back in Australia again. He was definitely involved in the US reserve for Australia and timed it well with low oil prices. But the election happened and “WE” elected the Labor / Greens, who then sold that oil reserve. My question – where were all the responsible public servants when this happened? Sitting in the back of the room doing their footy tips or are they just climate alarmists like the politicians.
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AUKUS Trilateral Defence Partnership negotiations began 2019, agreement signed late 2021;
https://www.defence.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-09/AUKUSFactsheet.pdf
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The Chinese are gearing up for total war, IMHO.
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And beginning First Term as POTUS so is Trump USA.
This is why, of course, Trump is urging allied nations to do their best affordable and practical defence assets building up.
Obviously, or should be, combined allied defence forces training and working together with compatible technology systems is a major deterrent factor.
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Memories
Al Qaeda and Iran have a complex relationship characterized by mutual hostility due to their differing sects—Al Qaeda is predominantly Sunni while Iran is Shia. Despite this animosity, they have occasionally cooperated tactically against common enemies, particularly the United States.
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The September 11 attacks, colloquially known as 9/11, were a coordinated series of Islamic terrorist suicide attacks perpetrated by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four airliners, then flew one into each of the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center in New York City. The third plane crashed into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, in Arlington County, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed in a rural Pennsylvania field during a passenger revolt
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nope.
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China is not gearing up to take Taiwan, there was a counter coup and Zhang Youxia and other top generals were purged. There is a rift between Military and Party which will require a steady hand, no time to go on a war footing.
Xi may invade Far East Russia once Putin is dethroned.
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Wow!? There must be thousands of Australian chemists, engineers, technologists etc. who are well aware of the key, and irreplaceable, roles that fossil fuels have in modern industrialized economies. That the political emphasis has been on energy in general and electricity in particular is purely a symptom of the ignorance of politicians and their advisors. So for example we have in Victoria a Premier who wants exploration for, and extraction of, natural gas banned. Maybe when she wakes up to the clamour from rural industries she will discover the facts. Maybe.
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So many of the politicians talk about farmers and petrol supplies !!!!
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FACT: Coal is too valuable to burn. 😱🔥💰💰💰💰
Think of coal as “heritage compost”. A highly valuable organic raw material.
One can only wonder what future bio-engineering breakthroughs will be developed (by China) to process the vast amounts of cheap “toxic” coal into new organic based super products. 💪💰💰💰💰💰
First, you will need political leaders who are technically knowledgeable and not just pen-pushing social-engineering lawyers and union officials. 👩⚖️🤡🥴🥴
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Andrew Hastie
ALBANESE LABOR SOLD 1.7 MILLION BARRELS OF OIL STORED IN THE USA FOR $94 MILLION USD.
Based on discussions and social media commentary from early 2026, there are claims that the Albanese Labor government sold a significant portion of the roughly 1.7 million barrels of oil ($94 million USD) purchased and stored in the US in 2020 by the previous government. However, the details regarding the exact amount sold or the transaction, are largely discussed in terms of public debate rather than confirmed, official reports.
The $94 million USD oil deal was made in 2020 by the Coalition government to boost Australia’s fuel security, storing the crude in the US.
Critics have pointed out that the oil was stored on the other side of the world, and in March 2026, social media users accused the current Labor government of selling it off.
Fuel Security: As of March 2026, Australia continues to face concerns over low fuel stocks, relying on imports for about 90% of its liquid fuel. The US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in Texas offers secure, large-scale, and cost-effective underground storage in impervious salt formations.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergius_process
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