Cobalt vs. Iron:
I. PLAYERS: Texaco, Exxon, Shell, Rentech, Syntroleum, Sasol
II. PROPRIETARY TECHNOLOGIES
A. Exxon: "Advanced Gas Conversion (AGC 21)"
*350 patents
B. Shell: "Middle Distillates Synthesis (MDS)"
C. Sasol: "Slurry Phase Distillate Process"
Syntroleum: Gas to Liquids (?)
Rentech: Gas to Liquids (?)
Patented (9 or 10 patents?)
III. CATALYSTS
A. Rentech: Iron-based
B. Sasol: "Will use cobalt catalysts in the next generation of its technology"
C. All Others: Cobalt-based
I believe that Sasol has been working with iron for many years, and has its own patents. However, for next generation technology they have chosen to migrate to cobalt.
IV. PROJECTS
A. Shell:
1. Bintulu, Malaysian plant, world's first commercial facility
*Operating since 1994
*12,500 bpd of waxes, chemicals and fuels
*Third generation technology
*Destroyed in explosion on Christmas day, 1997 (?)
2. Bangladesh (plan)
*New project
*Will use 4th generation technology
*50,000 bpd of mostly fuels
B. Exxon
1. Qatar plant (plan)
*Plan to do 100,000 bpd
*After sign agreement, construction to start in 1999
2. Looking at North Slope of Alaska with BP
2. Requests by the state of Alaska to look at use in Exxon's reserves there.
C. Sasol
1. Qatar project (plan)
*20,000 bpd plan
*Start-up by 2000 - 2001
*Partnered with Phillips
2. Joint-venture arrangements with Norway's Statoil for floating GTL units
D. Syntroleum
1. ARC Washington pilot plant (plan)
*70 bpd
2. Trinidad project (plan)
*Partner with Texaco and Brown & Root
*2,500 bdp
3. Wyoming project (plan)
*5,000 bdp
E. Texaco
1. North Atlantic Margin (plan)
*Some guess up to 200,000 bpd, but Texaco indicates 20,000 bpd more likely
2. Scotland (plan) ??
3. Amazon Basin of Brazil (plan) ??
F. Rentech
1. 350 bpd plant
*Tested in U.S.
*Moving to India (plan)
"I recollect only SASOL and Shell to have built producing installations, and Shell's blew up."
You infer that the cobalt systems are totally unproven and unreliable. It is important to note that they did production for three years prior to the explosion. |
