Company, Utilities Resume Talks Over Synthetic Gas

ALAN SAYRE

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A company planning to produce synthetic natural gas said Wednesday that it has resumed talks with so-far-reluctant Louisiana utilities about buying its product as a hedge against often-volatile natural gas prices.

Lake Charles Cogeneration plans to create synthetic gas with petroleum coke, a plentiful byproduct of refining.

The project, backed by $1 billion in Gulf Opportunity Zone bonds provided through the federal government as a hurricane recovery measure, was put together before natural gas prices plummeted last year. ...