Calgary, Alberta - Alter NRG Corporation has announced a project to develop its coal reserves in the Fox Creek Area of Alberta into diesel fuel and naptha, which it said will be Canada’s first Coal to Liquids (CTL) with carbon dioxide capture project. The company said the project will provide a clean energy solution for alternative oil production, and will use proven processes that have been in commercial operation worldwide for more than thirty years.

A regulatory process and strategic partner selection process has been initiated; the project is expected to be operational as early as 2014.

The project will involve the extraction of Alter NRG’s Fox Creek coal resource, and through gasification and other processes, will produce diesel fuel and naphtha. The reserve contains enough coal to produce 40,000 barrels per day of liquid fuels such as diesel for over 50 years. The project is located approximately 27 km northeast of the town of Fox Creek, Alberta, midway between Edmonton and Grand Prairie.

Alter NRG anticipates that capital investment for a project of this size will be approximately $4.5 billion and general 400 or more full-time jobs. The company intends to develop the project in at least two stages, with the first stage potentially producing upwards of 20,000 barrels per day. The high-cetane, low-sulphur diesel produced by the method provides upgraders and refineries with an opportunity to blend the Fox Creek diesel product with lower-quality diesel, increasing the volume and average value of diesel products.