Qatar, S. Africa to open largest GTL plant
upi.com
DOHA, Qatar, March 6 (UPI) -- South Africa's Sasol and Qatar Petroleum will shortly open a gas-to-liquid plant in Qatar, the Financial Times reported Monday.
The plant, Oryx GTL, will turn gas into diesel and other crude-derived products, and when it opens will be the world's largest GTL plant.
"For a variety of reasons, it would appear that the GTL industry is at an inflection point. If Oryx is successful, combined with some of the other projects in the works and this new paradigm for the oil price, it could be a huge catalyst for GTL," the Times quoted Frank Harris, an analyst at Wood Mackenzie, as saying.
Although originally developed in the 1920s, there has been limited interest in GTL technology. However, with soaring crude prices and questions of energy security receiving widespread media attention, GTL is expected to be the focus of investment and development in the near future.
Wood Mackenzie figures published in the Times estimate that more than $40 billion will be invested in GTL plants -- mostly in Qatar -- over the next decade. Production estimates range from 600,000 to one million barrels a day by 2015.
"This would be a niche compared to the demand for oil products, but we would expect that there could be rapid growth thereafter," Alan Gelder, GTL analyst for Wood Mackenzie was quoted as saying in the Times.
GTL has also piqued the interest of several automobile manufacturers. Toyota, Volkswagen, and DaimlerChrysler are all working with Royal Dutch Shell to develop engines that run on GTL diesel, while Audi will field a car powered by GTL diesel at Le Mans in two weeks.
Qatar is expected to be the hub of GTL technology and investment, as it couples the world's third-largest gas reserves with a stable government. In addition to Oryx GTL, Shell and ExxonMobil will build GTL plants in the country. Financial Times figures estimate that it will attract approximately 70 percent of gas-to-liquid investment. |
