(EnergyAsia, February 14 2013, Thursday) –A Seattle-based think tank said it is releasing a report to show that Australia’s Ambre Energy has “little potential to deliver on promises” to create jobs and major economic benefits with its plan to build two coal export terminals on the Columbia River in Washington state.

The company is envisioning turning the northwestern US into a major hub to store, handle and export coal to Asia.

In its report, “Ambre Energy: Caveat Investor”, non-profit Sightline Institute said “there is far less to Ambre from a financial standpoint than meets the eye.”

Sightline’s executive director Alan Durning and researcher Clark Williams-Derry, who wrote the report, and Tom Sanzillo, finance director at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, presented the report yesterday.

“Even though Ambre Energy has been at the centre of the coal export debate in the Pacific Northwest of the US, the reality is that the Australian corporation barely qualifies as a coal company,” said a press release announcing the release of the Sightline report, which claims to look at the company’s “miniscule revenues, major losses, failed Australian coal venture, high borrowing costs, massive capital needs”.

A streaming audio replay of the news event has been made available on the institute’s website at www.sightline.org.

On its website, Ambre Energy said it is establishing new international markets for US coal by unlocking the export potential of the country’s Pacific Northwest region, with the first terminal due to start up in 2014.

“We are operating and developing port infrastructure in the US Northwest, providing jobs and expanding trade with burgeoning Asian markets. We operate and co-own US mines that provide high quality coal for powering US homes and businesses, while working to supply modern and emerging Asian economies with affordable energy,” said the privately-held Brisbane-based company which has its US office in Salt Lake City in Utah.