SHARES in a synthetic fuels specialist rose sharply after a promising progress report on its key technology.

Bosses at Oxford Catalysts, based in Milton Park, near Didcot, said they were confident of securing a first commercial order after an ongoing successful trial of its Fischer-Tropsch (FT) unit.

The technology converts natural gas, coal or organic material into clean, high performance fuels and it is estimated that up to 25 million barrels of fuel a day could be produced.

The tests focus around a pilot unit which is in place in Gussing, in Austria, and are being conducted with the firm’s partner SGC Energia, a Portuguese renewable energy company.

Roy Lipski, chief executive of Oxford Catalysts, said: “Successful testing of our FT demonstration is an important step closer to validation of our technology in the field, paving the way for commercial roll-out with our partner SGCE.”

Shares rose more than nine per cent on the news to 81.96p. In February the firm said it was to build a pilot plant in Brazil to demonstrate its technology to convert waste gas into liquid fuel and had signed a £3m deal with PTT, a Thai energy company, to develop its method of extracting otherwise unusable ‘stranded’ gas from oil fields.