CII Chairman, Mark Grobmyer joined many members of the worldwide energy community at a roundtable conference in Washington, developed by the International Gas Center with the assistance of the CII. This was a very significant gathering because it included countries with considerable experience in restructuring and privatizing their power industries, such as Argentina, Mexico, and Hungary, along with countries in the early stages of both developing and privatizing at their domestic gas systems, such as China, India, Bangladesh, Mozambique, and Peru.
Important issues were discussed and new insights gained with regard to the value of technology and best practices that would be transferred to the host country.
These discussions have led CII to act as a major organizor of the Global EcoEnergy Development Center to assist companies which are seeking to develop new energy technologies. In this regard particular CII focus is being devoted to Solar, Bio fuel, Fuel Cells, Hydro, Nuclear, Coal to CBM Gas and other “Green” Technologies.
Chairman Grobmyer recently spoke at the Latin Business EXPO sponsored in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Commerce about a promising new technology which enables the capture of natural gas from coal deposits. This technology (developed by CDX of Dallas, Texas) involves innovative drilling techniques which can produce large volumes of gas from coal deposits in many countries.
On the roof of the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. IGC conference participants gathered. (left to right) Vincent J. Esposito, III Director of Stone & Webster, Joe O'Brien, Managing Director, Benigna Leiss, Vice President Latin America of Texaco, Ericson de Paula of Brazil, Richard Williamson, Chairman of T.D. Williamson, Inc. and Carlos Kamimura, Regional Director of Latin America, PSDI.
In some countries there exists coal but little or no natural gas. This new technology enables "Green Gas" to supplement or replace the burning of coal to produce electricity.
Countries that can significantly benefit from this technology include Spain, Australia, Brazil, China, Chile, India, Malaysia, South Africa, Thialand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Poland, Russia, Germany and other European countries as well as several other countries in North and South America. Some countries may utilize the technology for national security gas reserves purposes. These may include countries with smaller coal deposits such as Japan, Korea, Brunei and Tiawan. Still other countries may utilize the technology to produce distributed power in remote areas.