Coal - 30 September 2009

East Asia continues to be a vital region for the world economy and the world energy market. This article looks at the four major East Asian economies, their energy markets, and their hydrocarbon processing industries.

Rising demand for electricity at home and abroad will bolster Southeast Asian coal markets in the current financial climate.

Although the financial crisis has hit both the thermal and met coal markets hard, the outlook for both markets is now more positive.

Australia's carbon trading plan has been rejected in the same week that the UN strives to make its climate proposals more manageable.

Duke Energy and China Huaneng Group will collaborate to develop gasification technology that allows carbon to be captured and stored.

December sees the UN climate talks in Copenhagen. Tasked with developing a new climate agreement to replace Kyoto post-2012, government negotiators, NGOs, industry, media, and other interested parties will convene to try to work out how the world can meet the challenge of climate change. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) from coal mining activity should be an important part of the discussions.