Hi everybody: Sorry. I don't intend to absorb your attention with non-demanded issues, and I have just discovered this one goes on for a long time with everybody standing in the same original position.
But… I would like to ask Mark Jones (if nobody has done it until now) if he is aware that Nazi Germany produced "ersatz gasoline" from coal and gas during the WW II, through the Fischer-Topsch method (and, mind you, it is a cleaner fuel – the future is bright, ih ih). It is a viable technique that didn't develop because petrol and petrodollars dominated chemical science and industry after the war. In fact, all of Organic Chemistry that was taught at the University was Petrochemistry, period. What is the import of this? Well, there are technical solutions to the oil scarcity due to depletion of oil reserves. They will be somewhat more expensive, but, for instance in Europe, they could be economically viable in a capitalistic society if governments reduced the taxes on gasoline and diesel (that are enormous, not for bad reasons). Which leads me to the conclusion: Mark is right when he points to the likelihood of turbulence in oil markets due to scarcity of current oil reserves. He is not arguing of the physical scarcity but of the economic mechanisms, although the physical scarcity lurches deeply in his reasoning (and he is right again in the long term when he says that "we", I mean capitalism, have been using natural resources at a foolish rate and that there must be a limit). But again, I don't think that the "natural catastrophe" (sloppy English, sorry) is coming in the very near future. Thank God, because if we would turn into characters in a Mad Max movie… So, back to our social and political agenda (never forgetting the ecological dimension). See some links downwards Once again, if this aspect has been touched before, I am very sorry for having encumbered your mail boxes. Manel PS 1063. FORTUNE. Coming: Ersatz Gasoline. Vol. 31, 1945, pp. 200, 203. Our present crude petroleum reserves have dwindled to about a 14-yr. supply at the present rate of consumption, assuming that no new oil is found and that all of the present reserve can be brought above ground. To supplement that, we have other raw materials from which liquid fuels can be made: Natural gas about equal to the proved petroleum reserves, oil shale sufficient to maintain the normal rate of oil production for 65 yr., tar sands which contain enough oil for gasoline for 100 yr., and, finally, vast coal reserves, enough to supply liquid fuel by the Bergius and Fischer synthetic processes for 1,000 yr. or more. Some conservation-minded experts believe that natural gas should be used as such, since gas loses about half its heat content in being converted into gasoline. Therefore, the Bureau of Mines, in its study of the production of liquid fuels, is turning down natural gas and giving its attention to the production of gasoline and fuel oils from oil shale and from c! oal by means of the Fischer and Bergius processes. Economically, it is believed that gasoline made by the Fischer process is competitive with gasoline made from crude petroleum, and 2 companies are now ready to construct commercial Fischer plants. However, it is believed that success may not be too rapid, since the transfer of the process from laboratory and pilot-plant stage is sure to be difficult, obsolescence will be rapid, the after-war market for gasoline may be bad, with 7,000,000 cars off the road, and the supply of natural gas is not too secure, with 75% of it already earmarked for other industrial and domestic uses and being consumed at a rate that will exhaust present proved reserves in about 30 yr. See, for example: http://www.fischer-tropsch.org/ from Texaco propaganda: http://www.texaco.com/shared/pr/1999pr/pr10_29.html RENTECH'S FISCHER-TROPSCH TECHNOLOGY PROPOSED DENVER, Oct. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Rentech, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: RNTK), the Denver-based holding company which developed and licenses a proprietary and patented process, Gas-To-Liquids ("GTL"), for the conversion of gases, solid or liquid carbon-bearing material into valuable liquid hydrocarbons, announced today that Rentech's Fischer-Tropsch (FT) technology is expected to play an important part in a proposed electrical power and FT fuels project in West Australia as announced October 29, 1999 by Hillcrest Resources N.L. ("Hillcrest"). As indicated in that press release, the Global Gas & Power Division of Texaco, Inc. ("Texaco"), Hillcrest, and Australian Power & Energy Corporation Holdings Ltd. ("APEC"), have agreed to enter into formal joint venture negotiations for the development of the proposed Esperance Power Project. APEC holds the rights to the lignite deposit which underlies the project. The deposit is located at Salmon Gums, approximately 350 miles east southeast of Perth, Australia and 60 miles north of the port town of Esperance. The deposit is large with a total resource exceeding 2 billion tons. The project focus will be on an area of around 760 million tons. Total indicated oil resources in the lignite zone are approximately 272 million barrels (in the form of kerogen). Preliminary project sizing is for a 200 megawatt electrical power plant and a 6,000 barrel per day Fischer-Tropsch plant according to principals of Hillcrest and APEC. It is expected that Texaco's gasification technology will be used to gasify the lignite to product a syngas consisting of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The syngas will in turn be used to produce electricity and feed the Rentech-designed Fischer-Tropsch reactor. Hillcrest indicated in a press release issued June 11, 1999 that total capital costs for the Esperance Power Project are expected to be around $500 million. These costs will be borne by the joint venture group. "During the past several years, Rentech has been extremely active in pursuing a number of initiatives to further commercialize its technology. We are delighted that some of these initiatives have now progressed to the point where we can make them public," stated Dennis L. Yakobson, president and CEO of Rentech. Yakobson continued, "Our ongoing efforts reflect the tremendous flexibility of Rentech's Fischer-Tropsch technology and the opportunity it affords Rentech to participate in projects around the world that will produce very clean fuels and products from coal, industrial off-gases, refinery bottoms, and natural gas as Rentech seeks to evolve into a premiere Fischer-Tropsch technology licensing company." Certain portions of this press release may contain "forward looking" statements as defined by the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Any number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements herein. For more information concerning factors that could cause such a difference, see the Company's annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Although Rentech believes its statements to be reasonable, investors are cautioned that such forward looking statements involve risk and uncertainties. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly release the result of any revisions to any such forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date here! of or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. For more information, please contact: Mark Koenig, Director of Investor Relations of Rentech, Inc., 303-298-8008, or Email at [EMAIL PROTECTED] SOURCE Rentech, Inc. _____________________________________________________________ Sign up for FREE email from TimorLeste.net at http://www.timorleste.net
