Coal Liquefaction
As documented herein, the cost, in 1974, of producing liquid oil refinery feedstock, from Coal, in the US, was calculated, by the National Petroleum Council, to range between $6.50 and $7.50 per barrel.
The estimates were based, apparently, on CoalTL experimental and pilot plant data accumulated by the Office of Coal Research and the US Bureau of Mines; and, perhaps, from the commercial experience of South Africa's SASOL.
Throughout 1973, the cost of traditional crude oil ranged between $3.30 and $3.60 per barrel.
"Coal Liquefaction
The Proceedings of the American Physical Society; Conference on Energy
April, 1974
Harry Perry; Resources for the Future, Inc.; Washington, DC
Abstract: Two different processes were used by the Germans during World War II to produce liquid fuels in industrial quantities from coal. One such plant is in operation in South Africa. Discovery in the early 1950s of large Mid-East reserves that can yield oil at very low costs reduced interest in coal processes.The current shortage of domestic clean energy sources and the very large reserves of indigenous coal have revived interest in the production of synthetic fuels from coal. Several oil companies have conducted sporadic research on proprietary processes in their own laboratories and have supported a joint program on the H-Coal process of Hydrocarbon Research, Inc. The government-supported coal liquefaction programs of the Office of Coal Research have concentrated on Project Gasoline and Solvent Refined Coal. The Bureau of Mines has conducted several small-scale, in-house coal liquefaction experiments in an attempt todiscover lower cost methods for producing low-sulfur boiler fuel.No recent cost estimates have been published for producing oil from coal by either of the processes used during World War II by the Germans but by adjusting previous estimates inflation, costs of over $15 per barrel of oil would be expected. This compared to a crude oil price that had remained relatively stable (until early 1973) at $3.30 to $3.60 per barrel for a number of years. The National Petroleum Council estimates costs of a refinery feedstock at $6.50 to $7.50 per barrel for western coals and $7.50 per barrel using eastern coals. With improvements expected in second generation plants these costs might be reduced to $6.00 per barrel with western coals. Other estimates for refinery feedstocks from coals are higher.One of the most important current needs is to produce a low-sulfur boiler fuel from high-sulfur coal. Since the hydrogen requirements and processing conditions for producing a low-sulfur boiler fuel from coal are less severe than for producing a refinery feedstock, lower product costs should be possible. Unfortunately, less experimentation has been carried out on methods to produce a low-sulfur boiler fuel than for refinery feedstocks. However, the Bureau of Mines is currently concentrating on development of the Synthoil process to convert coal into a very low-sulfur boiler fuel and has successfully operated a half ton per day unit (1.5 barrels/day). Estimates of cost of a low-sulfur boiler fuel are $4.50 to $6.75 per barrel. ©1974American Institute of Physics"
-----------
So, in 1974, we could have made substitute petroleum, out of Coal, for, roughly, twice the cost of natural petroleum.
According to information via the following:
Table 7.8 Coal Prices, 1949-2009 (Dollars per Short Ton)
Coal, in 1974, as an aggregate average, sold for right around $52 per ton - in 2009, inflation-adjusted dollars.
In 2009 itself, Coal, again on average, sold for $49 per ton - in 2009 actual dollars.
The "real" cost of Coal has actually decreased.
And, according to yet another source:
CRUDE OIL PRICE: Oil | Energy | Petroleum | Oil Price | Crude Oil Charts | Oil Price Forecast
Crude oil aggregate prices, which, according to our initial reference, above, from the DC think tank, averaged between "$3.30 to $3.60 per barrel" during the 1973-1974 time frame, started out today, 10/20/09, at nearly $80 per barrel, and have, for the past year, averaged between $66.50 and $87 per barrel.
In total honesty, we have not yet found a reference we could include which would translate the 1973-74 "$3.30 to $3.60 per barrel" oil price into 2009 dollars.
But, we strongly suspect that, unlike the cost of Coal, it has not, in real terms, decreased.