Ramp up to full production should take more than a year. Sasol has stated publicly that they think it will take about a year to get to the full 34,000 bbl/day rate. Shell took several years to get the output of their pilot plant in Bintulu, Malaysia up to its nameplate 14,700 barrels a day capacity. Sasol hasn't done the startup of a greenfield Fisher-Tropsh plant since the completion of Sasol III in 1983, a generation ago. The senior engineers that built Sasol II in 1980 and Sasol III in 1983 have long since retired or died. Oryx is the first large scale commercial application of Sasol's new Slurry Phase Distillate (SPD) process. Sasol has run a 2,500 bbl/day pilot SPD™ reactor in Sasolburg since 1995.
I wouldn't believe ORYX GTL general manager Chris Turner about anything. Originally expected by year end 2005 they miss that date and
In February 2006.
Message 22189018
First product from the $1bn ORYX gas-to-liquid (GTL) project will be available in the second quarter of this year, according to ORYX GTL general manager Chris Turner.
The commissioning of the world’s largest commercial GTL plant at Ras Laffan will be done before March-end, he said at the 11th International Middle East Gas Summit.
They miss March and in April 2006
Message 22369458
South African fuels group Sasol Ltd (SOL) said on Wednesday it plans to launch the world's first commercial-scale gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant in Qatar on June 6, producing 34 000 barrels per day of liquid fuels from natural gas.
In June 2006
Message 22516875
The first saleable litre of new gas-to-liquids (GTL) fuel would be produced in Qatar in August, Sasol group executive international Lean Strauss told the touring media on Tuesday shortly after the official opening of the company's new $950-million ORYX GTL plant on Tuesday.
Strauss told questioning journalists that the plant would still require another 12-months-plus to reach full production of 34 000 barrels per day (bpd), which would amount to some 34 000 bpd a year.
Late June 2006
Message 22579790
First shipment from ORYX GTL ‘before Sept’
In November 2006
Message 22981164
The first batch of Qatar's so-called "green diesel" is scheduled for export to Europe in late December, Turner said.
"It's a Christmas present that I'm looking forward to," Turner said in an interview in his 15th floor office of the Qatar Petroleum headquarters in Doha.
In January 2007
Message 23206427
The first shipment from the ORYX gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant in Qatar, co-owned by South Africa's Sasol, the world's biggest producer of motor oil from coal, will hit the market by end-March this year.
A statement from Sasol on Monday quoted the ORYX plant's General Manager, Chris Turner as saying the plant was expected to start output in the last week of March as Sasol had previously stated, but months behind its original schedule.
"Overall the start-up is progressing smoothly. Although, as we expected it has not been without its challenges... Barring the unexpected, we expect to achieve the first quarter target we set ourselves," Turner said on Monday in Doha, Qatar.
As recently as their March 5th, 2007 presentation of their interim financial report to analysts they were still talking of shipping by end of March.
Now they claim they couldn't find a berth space. They are running out of excuses. Next they will claim thay can't find a crew for the ship or a harbor pilot, or the dog ate the paperwork ( homework.)
That said, I still think they will be in production soon. They've plum run out of excuses. |
