NDRC: Restrictions on investment in coal-based gas and oil production

Thread Content

NDRC: Restrictions on investment in coal-based gas and oil production Author/Source: Date: 2016-04-15 Clicks: 6 At a press conference held on April 13, it was announced that the “Draft Negative List for Market Access (Pilot Version)”, prepared by the NDRC and the Ministry of Commerce in conjunction with relevant departments, has been submitted to **** and the State Council for approval. It will be issued in the form of a notice and tested in the provinces and cities of Tianjin, Shanghai, Fujian, and Guangdong. The Draft initially lists 328 industries, sectors, and types of business for which investment and operations are prohibited or restricted within the People’s Republic of China, including 96 items that are completely prohibited from entry and 232 items for which entry is restricted. Among them, there are 5 coal projects for which investment is prohibited, and 11 coal-related projects using outdated technologies and equipment for which investment is prohibited ； Coal mining projects subject to investment restrictions include those for coal-to-natural gas production with an annual output of over 2 billion cubic meters, and those for coal-to-oil production with an annual output of over 1 million tons, which are approved by the investment regulatory authority under the State Council. Projects for producing over 500,000 tons of olefins from coal via methanol synthesis, as well as projects for producing over 1 million tons of methanol from coal, are approved by the authorities in charge of investment under the State Council ； The construction of new p-xylene (PX) projects and new diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) projects is approved by the provincial authorities in accordance with the petrochemical industry development plan approved by the State Council. **Coal development projects within the planned mining areas that aim to increase annual production capacity by 1.2 million tons or more are approved by the industry regulatory authorities under the State Council; those with an increased annual production capacity of 5 million tons or more must be filed with the State Council for record-keeping. **The remaining coal development projects within the planned mining areas are approved at the provincial level** ； The remaining general coal development projects are approved by local authorities. **It is stipulated that new coal and gas outburst, high-gas, and small to medium-scale coal development projects are prohibited from being approved.