Posted on 05/25/2009 9:22:18 PM PDT by westc1402
Is oil giant Exxon Mobile preparing itself for the beginning of the end of oil? It sure looks like it. In its 2008 Corporate Citizens Report released Friday the company promises to battle greenhouse gas emissions by increasing energy efficiency in the short term, advancing emission-reducing technologies in the medium term, and developing technologies such as solar, next generation biofuels and coal gasification for the long term.
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
I could take the article more seriously if the authoress knew how to spell “Mobil.”
Weak article.
I thought big business was bad.
“Developing” coal gasification? For crying out loud, we’ve researched it in this country for 40 years and built many demonstration plants. It’s been running commercially in South Africa for decades and the Germans ran their war machine on it in WW II. What possibly can be left to research?
“Developing” coal gasification?”
I believe in this context, he means “doing it.”
As in “develop” an oil field.
That is oil business speak. If he meant research, he would have said research.
My 2 cents (based on 20 years in the energy business, including with the firm that built the Sasol plants).
You refer to Fischer-Tropsch, Sasol, etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fischer-Tropsch
Nothing. Besides your examples, North Dakota's coal gasification plants provide natural gas for many of the power plants in the eastern half of the United States.
Dakota Gasification Company, a for-profit subsidiary of Basin Electric Power Cooperative, owns and operates the Great Plains Synfuels Plant near Beulah, ND. The Synfuels Plant is the only commercial-scale coal gasification facility in the United States that manufactures natural gas.
maybe they could research better methods, more efficient ways to do the gasification
bump
That was one of 7 plants that were planned in the late 70s. when it came on line OPEC dropped the price of a barrel of gas from $11 to $7. The other plants were deemed uneconomical. There is over 200 years worth of lignite stretching from North Dalota to Texas.
Several Cellulosic Ethanol plants are coming on line soon:
http://www.rangefuels.com
Pine wood chips converted to syngas and then converted to various alcohol fuels.
More importantly, patent it, so that their competition can't do it.
Must be a cell phone for oil workers.
The major international oil firms are among the biggest publicly traded companies, in the world.
And if managed well, would be diversified and future looking.
BP had a PR campaign calling itself British Petroleum, as well as “beyond petropleum.”
I am not surprised Exxon Mobil would likewise do so.
yes, until Obama decides to nationalize patents
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