Total and China Power Investment Corp. (CPI) will build a coal-based petrochemical plant in China. The two companies signed a letter of understanding (LOU) in Paris, France, to study the construction of a world-scale plant in coal-rich Inner Mongolia. Total will bring to this partnership its expertise in the methanol-to-olefins (MTO) and the olefin-cracking process (OCP) technology that Total Petrochemicals has tested extensively at its purpose-built semi-commercial plant in Feluy, Belgium.

Total will also study solutions on how to capture and store CO2 using the know-how gained from its carbon capture and storage pilot project in Lacq, France. Following the LOU signature, both companies will launch a feasibility study on a 1,000-tpy polyolefins production-site project, based on methanol produced from coal gasification. The plant investment, which is due to start production after 2015, is estimated at €2–€3 billion.