Issues Relative to the Development and Commercialization of a Coal-Derived Synthetic Liquids Industry. Economic Issues Affecting the Development of a Coal Liquefaction Industry. Final Report,January 1975--December 1976.

摘要

Because a coal-liquefaction industry is in its embryonic stage, a number of economic issues exist that are relevant to its birth,its growth,and to its long-term viability. Given the need to reduce our dependence upon OPEC,the initial prototypes for a coal-liquids industry are being supported by ERDA;but the transfer of responsibility for commercial development and subsequent growth to private industry will require considerable economic assistance from the government as long as the financial risks appear to be substantial,as they now do. The government's intrinsic involvement is so pervasive that its policies will have an enormous impact on the economics of this potential new industry and,indeed,could enable it to become competitive with imported oil. The important potential actions that can be taken by the government are: (1) to furnish the needed subsidies and guarantees to launch the infant industry in the near term; (2) to reduce the capital charges per unit of output by minimizing the cost of borrowed funds through Federal guarantees and permission to use inflation-corrected accounting and indexed bonds; (3) to reduce the cost of raw materials by making Federal coal available at or near its extraction costs; (4) to encourage the development of the industry by initial GOCO (government-owned,company-operated) arrangements that subsequently can be transferred to the private sector;and (5) to make mobilization preparations which would allow a rapid increase in the coal-liquefaction capacity,should the need for such action arise. (ERA citation 02:055608)