Status of the Great Plains Coal Gasification Project, December 31, 1984

Technical Report · Tue May 28 04:00:00 EDT 1985

OSTI ID:5397441

Bowsher, C A

The Department of Energy (DOE)-sponsored construction of the Great Plains coal gasification project - designed to produce synthetic natural gas from coal in North Dakota - was completed in December 1984 on schedule. However, technical problems prevented Great Plains from meeting the inservice (commercial operation) target date of December 1, 1984. DOE believes the in-service date could occur in June 1985. Faced with deteriorating financial projections in the wake of declining energy prices, Great Plains applied to the US Synthetic Fuels Corporation (SFC) for additional assistance. In April 1984 SFC tentatively agreed to provide Great Plains up to $790 million in price guarantee assistance. In return, the Great Plains partners would contribute more equity, and Great Plains would repay the DOE-guaranteed loan faster and make profit-sharing payments to SFC. However, since SFC's tentative agreement for price guarantees, several events that could affect the project's financial outlook have occurred. For example, SFC and DOE have revised their energy price forecasts downward. In addition, Great Plains and SFC are negotiating a final agreement that could change some conditions of the tentative agreement.

• Research Organization: General Accounting Office, Washington, DC (USA). Office of the Comptroller General
• OSTI ID: 5397441
• Report Number(s): GAO/RCED-85-92; ON: TI85901753
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010404* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Gasification
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
294001 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Coal
COAL GASIFICATION PLANTS
COAL INDUSTRY
CONSTRUCTION
FEDERAL REGION VIII
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
FINANCIAL INCENTIVES
FINANCING
FLUIDS
FUEL GAS
FUELS
GAS FUELS
GASES
HIGH BTU GAS
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
INDUSTRY
LOAN GUARANTEES
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NORTH AMERICA
NORTH DAKOTA
PRICES
PRODUCTION
SYNTHETIC FUELS CORPORATION
US DOE
US ORGANIZATIONS
USA