Since this year, an increasing number of coal chemical projects have received approval for environmental impact assessments; what are the prospects for the future?
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Since this year, the approval rates for environmental impact assessments for coal chemical projects have been increasing. However, with oil prices at 40-55 per barrel, will it be possible to achieve substantial profits from starting up such projects and bringing them online in the future?
There are significant differences among various types of products in this industry. With current oil prices, the prices of many bulk commodities are quite high!
Coal plays such an important role in the national economy, so it’s not possible to reduce its use anytime soon; the only option is to pursue clean ways of utilizing it. However, just because a project has passed environmental impact assessments doesn’t mean it will definitely be built. Economic considerations also play a role here – if the economic benefits are poor, aside from a few **technical strategic reserve projects, there won’t be many such projects built
What was said upstairs is correct – having passed the environmental impact assessment is just the starting point; companies are still waiting to see how things turn out, and they won’t launch projects recklessly if there’s no profit to be made
The way forward for the coal chemical industry is undoubtedly its clean utilization, but I believe that until breakthroughs are achieved in related carbon dioxide capture and utilization technologies and development pathways for higher-value downstream products are matured, the pace of progress will not be fast, even if many projects receive approval.
The new U.S. president wants to exploit the country’s oil.
From a production capacity perspective, petrochemical capacity is already in excess; the reported capacity is 700 million tons, with an excess of about 100 million tons. And there are already tens of millions of tons of coal chemical projects under construction. Short-term profits don’t look promising.
The subsequent treatment in coal chemical processing involves significant costs; unless production volume is high, investing in such post-treatment processes is certainly not cost-effective. The treatment of sulfur, nitrogen, and coal ash in coal requires money, and it depends on whether it’s worth it or not
We should view issues from a developmental perspective. Oil prices are currently 40-50 dollars, but that won’t necessarily be the case in the future. Look at the trend in oil prices during the last rise – it took just a few years for them to go from $50 to $100. Overall, an increase in oil prices is inevitable.
It’s still profitable, with significantly lower costs. Simply selling coal is no longer viable in today’s times. Although the profits from many coal chemical processes aren’t as high as they were at first, they are still profitable, which is better than nothing in comparison to other options.