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Gold/Mining/Energy : IVAN - Ivanhoe Energy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bradpalm1 who wrote (77)	11/10/2003 9:51:44 PM
From: Bradpalm1	Respond to of 271

This article illustrates one of the driving motivations behind pursuing GTL technologies. Whether IVAN can be successful here, IMO, is still an open question. Having access to the gas is one thing. Having a viable GTL technology is quite another. GTL revs up fuel hopes Herald Sun Paul Gover 11nov03 A FUTURE car breakthrough could keep the world turning without relying on either gasoline or the hi-tech and high-cost fuel-cell engines predicted to rule the road after 2020. Toyota and Shell are working on a new boost for the traditional internal combustion engine, with a liquid fuel project being pioneered in Qatar with huge potential for Australia. It is a method of producing liquid methane at room temperature using natural gas. If it is successful, the Gas-To-Liquid process could produce a viable automotive fuel that overcomes the environmental, cost and delivery problems which are proving a handicap to alternatives to the world's finite reserves of fossil fuels. Many companies are looking at ways to generate, store and distribute hydrogen as a motoring fuel. They are preparing for the time when fuel cells -- which were pioneered for space travel and generate on-board electricity -- take over from the internal combustion engine. However, Toyota believes GTL fuel could provide the answer, without abandoning the 100-plus years of experience with traditional automotive power plants. "Yes, we can use GTL without any problem. It is very clean, very good for internal combustion engines," the Toyota board member in charge of the company's environmental affairs division, Hiroyuki Watanabe, said in Tokyo yesterday. "It will be cheaper than diesel light oil," he said. "The key issue is the cost." Mr Watanabe said GTL fuel would still be best in a hybrid car, which combines a small-capacity internal combustion engine with an electric "booster" for acceleration and city running, but believes it could rival the fuel cell for long-term automotive use. "The fuel cell is not the only alternative," said Mr Watanabe. "A gas hybrid or diesel hybrid will become better and better in performance," . Mr Watanabe confirmed that Shell was well advanced with its GTL research and it was being monitored closely by Toyota. The automotive company intends to lead the car world in the development of environmentally friendly vehicles through the 21st century. Mr Watanabe said Shell was close to commissioning a pilot plant in Qatar, a location chosen because it was able to get free gas for the research operation. Australia's potential for a similar GTL project is obvious, with the country's massive reserves of natural gas in Western Australia. Mr Watanabe said natural gas had huge possibilities through GTL development. This was because Toyota's research into hydrogen fuels showed there were big problems with creation of carbon dioxide, as well as boosting its calorific content and establishing a workable distribution network. Mr Watanabe said he believed GTL could be stored and transported with minimal changes from today's gasoline distribution network and sold through existing service stations.

To: Bradpalm1 who wrote (77)	11/10/2003 10:22:49 PM
From: Pluvia	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 271

several points re gtl: 1. Shell's process is different than IVAN's "licensed" GTL process, and Shell's GTL plant is the FIRST and only commercial GTL plant in operation. 2. You'll notice Shell brings 6 billion for the project. And, while friedland is an amazing used car salesman, able to sell innocent investors stock by making them believe in underground riches, selling GTL to engineers who know he's FOS is not so easy... particularly when he has no money to bring to the table and he's peddling someone else’s licensed GTL process that's NEVER been commercially implemented. the Shell GTL deal drives home the fact that IVAN has never had a real shot of selling GTL. They lack the expertise, the engineering and the money. But that won't stop toxic bob friedland and co from using GTL as a shiny "promotion" to sell innocent investors stock...

To: Bradpalm1 who wrote (77)	11/11/2003 12:22:55 AM
From: Wolff	Respond to of 271

Barriers to Entry in this case means going with the big boys, I wonder how they could lose 3.3M in negotiations, seems that is a lot of wasted shrimp dinners. In May 2003, our advanced negotiations with Qatar Petroleum and the Qatari government to construct and operate a major GTL production facility in Qatar terminated without an agreement being reached. In the second quarter of 2003, we wrote off $3.3 million of our GTL investments for expenditures incurred in support of these negotiations. To date, no commercial-scale GTL plants have been constructed using the proprietary GTL process we license from Syntroleum Corporation (“Syntroleum”) and, therefore, the process has not been proven on a commercial scale. Other developers of GTL technology have significantly more financial resources than Ivanhoe and may be able to use this to obtain a potential competitive advantage. Despite advanced negotiations with state-owned Qatar Petroleum, we were unsuccessful in obtaining a development and production-sharing contract to construct a GTL project in Qatar. Although we are continuing to explore GTL project opportunities in the Middle East and elsewhere, we can give no assurances as to when or if any of these opportunities will result in a GTL development agreement.