OIL FROM COAL

Greymouth Evening Star, 8 August 1936, Page 11

OIL FROM COAL

PLANT TO SUIT AUSTRALIA.

LONDON, July 28.

The directors of Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd., have informed the Premier of New South Wales (Mr Stevens) that their operations at Billingham (Durham) have reached the stage at which it is possible ioi them to design a plant for Australian conditions, which will produce petrol of high quality. Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd. has agreed to train operatives from Australia, and arrangements will be made forthwith.

The patent rights of the hydrogenation procees are held in Australia by Synthetic Coal Oil Products Proprietary, Ltd. There are four constituent members of this company, three of whom interviewed Mr Stevens in London, and agreed to undertake immediately the preliminary steps towards erecting a plant and conducting operations in Australia.

The first need on the technical side is the training of technicians and operatives in the specialised details of the process. There are very' tew persons possessing these qualifications. i

The chairman of the company, Sir Harry MacGowan, informed Mr Stevens that lie proposed to visit Australia at the end of the year, when ho would be able to confer - with the Australian company, and the Commonwealth and State Governments. Mr Stevens has had many conferences with the directors of Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd., and last /week, before going to Denmark, he also had discussions with persons interested in low-temperature carbonisation, the Fischer process, and the process which appears to have reached prominence in Austria. Mr Stevens stated that the view expressed here is that u,nder Australian conditions low-temperature carbonisation and the Fischer process may prove to involve less financial difficulty than hydrogenation. He has formed the impression that there is not only room, ' but the need for all three processes if Australia is to undertake the development of her natural resources with a view to producing petrol supplies.

GERMAN PLANS

“It is my view,” he said, “that it is imperative, under present world conditions, for Australia to develop her resources to the full extent. There is hardly a country in the world, including America, where gusher oil is easily available, wheie processes for extracting oil from shale and coal arc not being developed. It is estimated that within two or three years Germany will obtain all her supplies of petrol from her own resources. Germany is showing development on the technical side with remarkable success. The ultimate costs of operation are greatly affected by the frequency of changes made in structural design as the process develops, and the amount to be set aside for the amortisation of plant.

“An outside estimate of the costs to-day,” Mr Stevens stated, “indicates that, if petrol is to be produced under Australian conditions, it will be necessaiy for an arrangement to be made between the Commonwealth and/or the State Governments along the lines of the agreement between Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd., and the British Government, under which exemption from excise i§> guaranteed over the period of amortisation. “These financial arrangements, he added, “will mean discussions in Autsralia between representatives of the Australian patents-holding company and the Government, and also between Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd., and the British Government.”