Wesley Clark Seeks Licence For Oil in Kosovo

He has roads in many Kosovo cities named of him and even a driving school, but former US General Wesley Clark is now looking to further strengthen his ties with the country that venerates him for his role in the 1999 war.

Now chairman of the Canada-based energy firm Envidity, Clark is returning to Kosovo with a mining application to drill across the Dukagjini region for previously undiscovered coal reserves, which would then be transformed into synthetic fuel.

Using little-known techniques – Underground Coal Gasification and Gas to Liquid processes – the firm hopes to produce up 100,000 barrels of the fuel per day – or 15 million litres.

This would make the Kosovo operation one of the largest of its kind in the world, and, according to Envidity, bring $8 billion of investment to Kosovo.

The firm also boasts that it would make Kosovo self-sufficient in diesel and aviation fuel within six to seven years.

The synthetic fuel – diesel and naphtha – can be used to generate electricity, fertilizer and produce plastics. The fuel has also been tested successfully by the US Air Force to power its fighter jets.

Envidity, which has now set up a branch in Kosovo, Envidity Energy Kosova LLC, applied to the government on April 25 for the licence, which has not yet been granted.

“After granting of the exploration licence, we propose to employ advanced drilling and seismic technologies to determine what new, deep coal resources may exist in the Dukagjini Basin area of Kosovo,” Chief Executive Jeff Brook wrote in the application letter, which was copied to the firm’s chairman, Wesley Clark, and which Prishtina Insight obtained.

“Our exploration will be conducted outside the area currently identified as suitable for surface coal mining techniques,” it continues.

“Furthermore, this exploration may also prove up additional surface minable resources which we will relinquish to the Government.”

Drilling in Dukagjini:

The study will look first at the Dukagjini area of western Kosovo and then at the “South Kosovo” basin, near the city of Prizren.

“If, as we suspect, significant deep coal deposits can be proved up in both the Dukagjini and South Kosova basin areas, then Envidity proposes to proceed with a significant expansion and development of this untapped resource, first in the Dukagjini Basin and later in the South Kosova basin area,” the firm wrote.

The initial phase would see the creation of a “demonstration” plant that will produce 1,500  barrels a day using the “Fishcer-Tropsch” process, already in commerical use in China and Canada.

The Fischer–Tropsch process is a chemical reaction that converts a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen into liquid hydrocarbons.

The process, a key component of gas-to-liquids technology, produces a synthetic lubrication oil and synthetic fuel, typically from coal, natural gas, or biomass.

It has received intermittent attention as a source of low-sulfur diesel fuel and to address the supply or cost of fuel, but remains relatively unknown.

Envidity has recently launched a programme similar to its Kosovo plans in Mongolia.

The largest-scale implementation of Fischer–Tropsch technology is a series of plants operated by Sasol in South Africa, a country with large coal reserves but little oil.
Confusion over licence

Selvete Grajcevci, from the Independent Commission for Mines and Minerals, ICMM said that the commission had met with representatives of Envidity after it applied for the licence.

“For the time being we cannot issue the licence to Envidity because the law on mines and minerals treats energy minerals differently. There should be a government call, opening a tender process for this,” Grajcevci told Prishtina Insight.

Under Article 18 of the law on mines and minerals, “Licences Subject to Competitive Award Process” and any “Exploration or Mining Licence” related to an energy mineral must be offered as part of an open, transparent and competitive tender process.

Gezim Baxhaku, advisor to the Minister for Economic Development Besim Beqaj,  said the ball was in the ICMM’s court. He added that the government had planned its own survey of these underground reserves, which was temporarily on hold because of a dispute over the tender award process.

“All requests will be reviewed and evaluated according to the foreseen procedures by law,” Baxhaku said. “In this particular case for any offer we will go through a competitive process.”

Baxhaku said it was up to the ICMM to initiate the process. “We haven’t got any proposal from the ICMM. They just can’t throw the ball to the govenrnment,” Baxhaku said.

A former member of the ICMM, Zenun Elezaj, now professor at Metallurgical Faculty in Prishtina, welcomed the project, saying it would be a boon for Kosovo.

“The project is very important,” he said. “It will use lignite areas to a depth of 250 metres,” he explained.

“By applying this method, there is no need to destroy the surface land, because the burning happens underground, with no need to create a huge ash disposal site.”

The firm is offering Kosovo approximately 30 per cent of all revenue from the project, which could amount to 300 million euro a year.

“Kindly note, the Government has no financial risk, as Envidity will invest its own private equity capital in this strategic prokect; a project that has the ability to provide Kosovo with transporation fuel self-sufficiency within six to seven years,” the letter from Envidity reads.

Hero to Albanians:

Clark, according to his biography on the Envidity website, retired from the US Army after 38 years as a “four-star general”.

In his last assignment as Supreme Allied Commander Europe he led NATO forces to victory in Operation Allied Force, “saving 1.5 million Albanians from ethnic cleansing”, he writes, referring to the 1999 Kosovo conflict.

Clark remains a hero to Kosovo Albanians and has streets named after him in Peja, Prizren, Vushtrri, Ferizaj as well as a driving school in Fushe Kosovo.