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Synthesis Energy Systems Names Foon Lee Leow as Managing Director - China

Posted on: Thursday, 20 August 2009, 07:01 CDT

HOUSTON, Aug. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Synthesis Energy Systems, Inc. (the "Company") (Nasdaq: SYMX), a global industrial gasification company, today announced that Foon Lee Leow has been named as Managing Director for the Company's Chinese business operations, effective September 1, 2009. Mr. Leow has had over 20 years of management experience in power infrastructural sales, business development, gasification technology licensing, M&A and management of joint ventures in the industrial, energy and oil & gas sectors, covering the Greater China and Asia-Pacific region.

"We are extremely pleased to have Foon Lee as our Managing Director, China," said Robert Rigdon, President and CEO of Synthesis Energy Systems. "Foon Lee's appointment brings to our management team a seasoned leader with a depth of experience in closing large complex transactions in the energy sector and much of this experience has been focused in China. His specific knowledge commercializing cleaner coal gasification will help us grow as we respond to the rapidly increasing interest in the U-GAS(R) coal gasification technology."

From August 2006 until joining SES, Mr. Leow worked for Royal Dutch Shell as their Director of Clean Coal Energy in China, based in Beijing. In this role, Mr. Leow was responsible for leading the assessment and progressing strategic investments and stakeholder management of external partnerships in developing coal-to-chemical industry park opportunities in China, including coal-to-liquids and coal gasification syngas-derived projects. He also served as Vice Chairman of Shell's joint venture with Sinopec at Yueyang Sinopec & Shell Coal Gasification Co. Ltd. in Hunan, China. Other responsibilities included expanding Shell's coal gasification technology licensing deals, overseeing technical/service support and developing local R&D collaboration with key Chinese research institutes and technology players with local manufacturing programs. He was a member of Shell's Global Clean Coal Leadership and Country Co-ordination Team.

Prior to leading Shell's clean coal energy business in China, Mr. Leow worked for General Electric for 19 years, 11 of which were spent in Greater China. Mr. Leow started his career as an international management trainee, and undertook various global assignments in New York, Singapore, Taipei, Hong Kong and Beijing where he rose to be the President and Region Executive of GE Power Systems in Asia-Pacific before leaving to work for Motorola as their Asia-Pacific Vice President and President of their Commercial and Government businesses in Greater China. From 2004 to 2006, he worked for RGM, a privately-owned, multi-national resource-based business group as head of their Beijing operations and President of their energy business in China.

"Foon Lee comes to SES with superb credentials and a unique skill set combining significant technology licensing and international business experience that will benefit SES as we continue to grow our business in China and other parts of Asia," said Donald Bunnell, President and CEO of Synthesis Energy Systems - Asia Pacific.

Mr. Leow, a Singaporean, graduated with a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from National University of Singapore and from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York with an MBA. He is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and a few Chinese dialects and has lived in China for over 14 years.

About Synthesis Energy Systems, Inc.

The Company is an energy and technology company that builds, owns and operates coal gasification plants that utilize its proprietary U-GAS(R) fluidized bed gasification technology to convert low rank coal and coal wastes into higher value energy products, such as transportation fuel and ammonia. The U-GAS(R) technology, which the Company licenses from the GTI, gasifies coal without many of the harmful emissions normally associated with coal combustion plants. The primary advantages of U-GAS(R) relative to other gasification technologies are (a) greater fuel flexibility provided by our ability to use all ranks of coal (including low rank, high ash and high moisture coals, which are significantly cheaper than higher grade coals), many coal waste products and biomass feed stocks; and (b) our ability to operate efficiently on a smaller scale, which enables us to construct plants more quickly, at a lower capital cost, and, in many cases, in closer proximity to coal sources. The Company currently has offices in Houston, Texas and Shanghai, China. For more information on SES, visit or call (713) 579-0600.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks, trends and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Among those risks, trends and uncertainties are our early stage of development, our estimate of the sufficiency of existing capital sources, our ability to raise additional capital to fund cash requirements for future operations, our ability to reduce operating costs, the limited history and viability of our technology, the effect of the current international financial crisis on our business, commodity prices and the availability and terms of financing opportunities, our results of operations in foreign countries and our ability to diversify, our ability to maintain production from our first plant in the Hai Hua project, our ability to obtain the necessary approvals and permits and to negotiate definitive agreements and financing arrangements for our YIMA project and other future projects, and the sufficiency of internal controls and procedures. Although we believe that in making such forward-looking statements our expectations are based upon reasonable assumptions, such statements may be influenced by factors that could cause actual outcomes and results to be materially different from those projected. We cannot assure you that the assumptions upon which these statements are based will prove to have been correct.

SOURCE Synthesis Energy Systems, Inc.

Source: PR Newswire

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