Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has begun talks with Coal India Ltd (CIL) to explore the possibility of striking a joint venture for a coal-liquefaction project.

Is global steel giant ArcelorMittal diversifying into the energy sector, especially oil and gas? Asked this question, Mr Aditya Mittal, the Chief Financial Officer of the company said: "India is an energy-deficient country and we are already working with the Government.' The London-based, ArcelorMittal has 27 manufacturing plants across the globe. China and India figure prominently in the company's global business strategy, he said, not explaining the diversification into the energy sector. Speaking on

Facing ever-increasing costs, the us Department of Energy has given up a plan to build the world's largest clean-coal power plant and carbon sequestration facility. At the time of the

The best way to cut down on the greenhouse gases produced by power generation is to reduce America's appetite for electricity. Renewable energy sources like wind power and biomass have a helpful role to play. Yet, dependable base sources will remain necessary, and coal-fired plants will probably be part of the mix for a long time. Minimizing the impact of such plants is vital. That is why it is so discouraging that the Bush administration pulled the plug on a project for using coal to produce power without carbon dioxide emissions. For five years, the Department of Energy, coal and power companies, and several countries, including China, have been partners in developing a plant in Mattoon, Illinois, that would convert coal to gas, allowing its carbon dioxide to be captured and stored underground. The Department of Energy said it withdrew its 75 percent support from FutureGen last month because its cost had almost doubled, from $1 billion to $1.8 billion. Some have suggested the real motive might have been lingering opposition to the choice of Mattoon by administration officials from Texas, which lost out in the selection process. Congress should call on the Government Accountability Office to investigate how the department made its decision to pull out. Five years of work have come to a dead end, and the country and the world are not much closer to knowing if coal can be part of the climate change solution and not just the climate change problem.

Coal India (CIL) will have to spend around Rs 1,800 crore for importing over 200 million tonnes (mt) of coal valued at current international prices to meet domestic demand during the 11th Five-Year Plan period, according to the public sector behemoth's latest estimates. The imports are necessitated due to a number of letters of assurance (LoA) issued by the coal ministry recently. The LoAs have been issued to different independent power producers, captive power producers, cement and sponge iron units. CIL's estimates, worked out on the basis of applications received by way of LoAs issued to different coal consumers, reveal that the total domestic coal demand during the 11th plan period would be around 773 mt as against the projected production of 520 mt. CIL has received 400-odd applications for the 11th plan period, taking the total coal demand figure to around 773 mt. This leaves a shortfall of over 200 mt to meet domestic requirement. However, the state-run company has also worked out a second conservative estimate of 706 million tonnes for the period. This estimate is based on the feedback that some power units may not be able to commence production during the period. Highly placed CIL sources said, "A necessity for imports is genuinely felt if actual demand and supply are taken into consideration during the 11th plan. Talks on imports have just begun and we have to work out the issue in the shortest possible time to cater to requirements.' For the first time, the new coal distribution policy, announced a few months ago, has kept provisions for meeting domestic coal demands through imports and that might have prompted CIL to work out its internal assessments till 2011-12. The imports would come mostly from Indonesia, South Africa and Australia. Internationally, prices of non-cocking coal are ruling at $90 a tonne. The average domestic price of the product is Rs 800 a tonne. According to CIL estimates, the major part of the domestic demand for coal would come from power plants, taking up about 533 million tonnes, followed by sponge iron, cement and captive power units. Till date, the coal ministry has issued LoAs to 64 new and upcoming units.

>> In a non-binding report, the European Parliament has given more time to car manufacturers for reducing CO2 emissions from tailpipes. Manufacturers should reduce the emissions to 125 grammes

that was a diplomatic googly which was suitably timed. In an interview to The Guardian on January 19, 2008, the uk's environment secretary Phil Woolas made a point on India's intransigence on