Datang sets up 18.8b yuan gas venture

Datang International Power Generation has agreed to set up an 18.78 billion yuan (HK$20.88 billion) coal-to-natural gas joint venture. It will hold 51 per cent and parent China Datang Group will control 6 per cent. Beijing Gas Group will have 33 per cent and Hong Kong-based New Horizon Capital Advisors 10 per cent. The project will turn coal mined in the Inner Mongolia province into natural gas, to be sent through a 440km pipeline to Beijing. When completed in 2012, it will have an annual output capacity of 4 billion cubic metres.