In a welcoming development, Beijing has agreed in principle to include the most strategic project of turning Thar coal into diesel and gas under CPEC umbrella and to this effect, it will first provide financing for feasibility study prior to launching the project of paramount importance.  If the feasibility study comes with positive result, China will not be hesitant to complete this project. Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Petroleum confirmed this development. The authorities from China in Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) meeting held here on November 5, 2019 gave their willingness to provide funding for the feasibility study under CPEC financing mechanism for the project under which Thar coal will be converted into diesel and gas.  However, China, had asked Petroleum Division to share its master plan. To this effect, Petroleum Division will share its master plan with China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) that will, after studying the master plan, select the projects.  The government is too much serious to convert Thar coal into liquid (diesel) and gas and China has also agreed to complete this project.  Shenhua Ningxia Coal Industry Group, a subsidiary of China’s biggest coal producer, the Shenhua Group, has already successfully installed the project to convert coal into oil in the northwestern Chinese region of Ningxia, the biggest plant of its kind in the world.  Thar coalfield in Sindh province is bestowed with 185 billion tons of lignite coal, which can fuel power generation of over 100,000 megawatts for more than two centuries. Pakistan needs to increase share of coal in country’s energy mix to at least 19 percent by 2030 and 50 percent by 2050. And if the diesel production from Thar coal has started then sky is the limit. In 1992, Geological Survey of Pakistan (GSP) discovered coal deposits worth 175-185 billion tons of lignite in Thar.