Anglo American and Shell form a clean coal energy Alliance

25/05/2006, Anglo American plc (“Anglo American”) and Shell Gas & Power International B.V. (“Shell”) today announced the formation of an Alliance in the field of coal conversion to clean energy.

The two leading companies aim to maximise the benefits from the emerging field of clean coal energy by taking selective equity positions in coal conversion projects. These projects will utilise the extensive coal reserves of Anglo American and combine its mining capabilities with Shell’s leading-edge technologies. The objective is to extract, gasify and then convert coal into chemicals, hydrogen, power, liquid hydrocarbons and other uses.


Anglo American and Shell share common corporate values and a commitment to sustainable development, which will be applied to the Alliance and future projects. Burning the synthesis gas generated by the gasification of coal emits significantly lower quantities of greenhouse gases and pollutants than traditional coal burning and is the cleanest way to harness the energy potential of coal - the world’s dominant fuel source.


Tony Trahar, Chief Executive of Anglo American, said, ”The ability of Anglo American and Shell to form a clean coal energy Alliance, which has the potential to develop multiple projects, will create a sustainable competitive advantage, whilst creating value for shareholders of both the Alliance partners.”


Linda Cook, Executive Director, Shell Gas & Power said, “This Alliance further advances the significant progress that Shell has made in developing clean coal energy. The technology, and the potential opportunities that it will unlock, is exciting and we look forward to working with Anglo American.”


The Alliance partners are currently investigating an opportunity to incorporate Anglo American’s Monash Energy Project, based in Australia, into the Alliance. This project is exploring technologies that produce liquid fuels from non-conventional sources, such as coal. The project initially envisages a coalmine, drying and gasification plant, carbon dioxide capture and storage and a gas-to- liquids (GTL) plant with associated power generation.







Note To Editors:


Anglo American plc is one of the world’s largest mining and natural resource groups. With its subsidiaries, joint ventures and associates, it is a global leader in platinum group metals, gold and diamonds, with significant interests in coal, base and ferrous metals, industrial minerals and paper and packaging. The group is geographically diverse, with operations in Africa, Europe, South and North America, Australia and Asia. (www.angloamerican.co.uk - opens in new window)


Monash Energy is helping to meet the challenges of energy security and climate change by applying to brown coal advanced drying and gasification technologies to produce large volumes of ultra-clean synthetic diesel. Critically, the technologies chosen by Monash Energy enable separation of a concentrated stream of CO2 that can be transported to injection wells in deep underground geological formations for secure storage. The core of the project is a large-scale commercial plant in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, drawing coal from its own mine and then drying and gasifying the coal for conversion into transport fuels.


Shell Gas & Power is a collective term for the separate and distinct companies within the Royal Dutch Shell plc (the Group) that carry out the Group’s natural gas and power activities. Shell Gas & Power is engaged in activities spread across 30 countries throughout the world covering natural gas and LNG infrastructure and market development, marketing and trading of natural gas and electricity, power plant development and Gas to Liquids conversion.


Shell Gas & Power holds leading positions in all three key natural gas markets (Asia Pacific, Europe and North America), and owns interests in five operating LNG joint ventures that together produced approximately one-third (50 million tons) of the world’s LNG production in 2004. With interests in five new LNG trains currently under construction, including a new project in Russia, Shell aims to further strengthen its portfolio of assets and technology to maintain global leadership in this growing sector.

Contact Information

Andy Corrigan

Shell International Media Relations

Shell Gas & Power

Contact via E-mail