Beneath the steppes of northern China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region lie some of the world's largest coal deposits. Every year, 3.45 million tons of the black stuff is trucked to a huge factory in Ordos, 150 kilometers south of the region's largest city, Baotou. There it is transformed into 1 million tons of liquid fuels, mainly diesel and gasoline, to satiate some of China's escalating hunger for transport fuels. China consumed about 250 million tons of gasoline, diesel, and jet kerosene for transport in 2009, according to the International Energy Agency. About half of the petroleum the country needs to make these fuels is imported; imports could go up to 67% by 2020. With a burgeoning economy, the largest automobile market in the world, and a dearth of domestic oil, China is turning to its vast coal reserves—114.5 billion tons at last count— to meet the country's oil needs.
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