"Fluctuations of coal feed, sometimes on an hourly basis, have impacted SCGP reliability for some clients, but when clients learned how to better guard their feedstock consistency, the reliability and run lengths went up significantly."

An unnamed official with China's National Energy Administration was quoted as saying in the report that the association had proposed restrictions on technology imports.

"The government should step up controls, restricting the repeated use of Shell's immature technology and encourage domestic firms and research institutes to strengthen adoption and innovation of imported technologies," the association said in the report.

(Shanghai Daily July 17, 2009)