RIVERTON  — Wyoming legislators say they want to support research for the design of facilities that will convert the state’s natural gas and coal to gasoline.

Members of the Joint Minerals, Business and Economic Development Interim Committee decided Tuesday to develop legislation to contribute toward the $5 million cost of a study to help with facility design.

Representatives of Casper-based Nerd Gas Co. told lawmakers they hope to place such a facility on land the company owns next to Lake DeSmet, south of Sheridan.

They told members of the committee at its meeting in Riverton that a natural gas-to-gasoline plant would cost about $1.7 billion to build and would convert 288 million cubic feet of natural gas to 34,000 barrels of gasoline a day.

At today’s prices, $34 worth of natural gas could be converted into $140 worth of gasoline at the facility, leaving a tidy profit for the facility’s owner and investors even after expenses, according to a feasibility study conducted by researchers at the federal Idaho National Laboratory.

“They believe at these discounted (natural) gas prices we can produce a lot of gasoline and make a lot of money for ourselves and the state of Wyoming,” said Mick McMurry, president of Nerd Gas.

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