Could coal replace oil?

Peak Oil is hitting headlines across the globe. But a well-established technology could allow the US to increase its equivalent oil reserves by more than 20 times by exploiting its coal reserves...

At current oil prices, one answer to the evolving shortage of liquid fuels is coal liquefaction, HSBC bank suggests.

The CTL (coal-to-liquids) technology is well-established. It was originally invented in Germany in the 1920s and developed there and in the US in the 1930s. In the Third Reich it was used to make up to 600,000 barrels a day of petrol and avgas during the Second World War.

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