Advertiser retains sole responsibility for content S7ADVERTISEMENT FEATUREnatural gas can be shipped
internationally. That’s why Royal
Dutch Shell and its partner,
Qatar Petroleum (QP), began
looking at constructing a GTL
plant in 2004. Shipping refi ned
GTL diesel and lubricants to
markets in Asia and Europe is
a lot less capital intensive than
transporting LNG.
Although the incentive
to produce clean GTL diesel
wasn’t initially environmentally
driven, the timing of the
completion of both major
projects happened to coincide
with the peak of the clean-air
crisis in European cities. Clean
GTL diesel emits 70% less NO 2 ,
is sulphur-free and has virtually
no particulate discharge.
Given the recent
controversy about inaccurate
emissions testing of diesel
engines by Volkswagen and
other manufacturers, public
opinion about diesel has shifted
in Europe. Nevertheless,
retiring the diesel fl eet will
take at least a decade and
particulate pollution in someEurope has led cities like Paris
and London to ban tra c
during critical periods of high
pollution. One solution may be
to switch to GTL diesel, which
is why Pearl GTL is running at
near capacity.
Becoming the biggest GTL-
producing country in the world
required billions in investment
but, more important, the
research and innovation to make
it possible. Royal Dutch Shell
did have previous experience
in GTL production in Malaysia,
but the plant it opened in
Bintulu, Malaysia, in 1993 is less
than a tenth of the size of the
Pearl GTL plant in Qatar and
didn’t require the full recyclingof the water required to cool
the production facility. Sasol’s
Oryx GTL plant was the
company’s fi rst foray in the GTL
production. Without the critical
research undertaken at QSTP,
neither venture would have seen
completion at such a rapid pace.
Royal Dutch Shell has more than
3,500 patents across all stages
of the GTL process, including
over 1,400 that were specifi c to
Pearl GTL.
During the projected lifetime
of the Pearl GTL plant, Royal
Dutch Shell estimates it will
have produced the equivalent
of over one billion barrels of
oil. On a cost basis, the plant
can operate profi tably as long
as the price of Brent Crude is
above $40 a barrel. Royal Dutch
Shell invested $20 billion to
construct the plant. The costs
were recovered after six years
of operation, and Pearl GTL is
a major profi t center for the
company today. It produces the
equivalent of 140,000 barrels
of oil a day. Sasol’s Oryx GTL
plant produces 34,000 barrels
per day
Even with the best research
and development in the
world, the economics of
GTL production have to be
right before profi tability can
be assured. That requires a
su cient disparity between
the price of crude oil and
natural gas.
“In the U.S., it would make
economic sense when the price
of [West Texas Intermediate
oil] is nearing $100 a barrel,”
adds Elbashir. “Shell recovered
its $20 billion investment in the
Pearl GTL plant in Qatar in just
six years, and it is now one of
its most profi table ventures in
the world.”
“In order for the process
to be less expensive than
processing petroleum-based
refi ning for transportation fuels,
the natural gas feedstock has
to be essentially free — as in
the case of Qatar, with a large
stranded gas fi eld,” says DavidRamberg, who authored the
paper “The economic viability
of gas-to-liquids technology
and the crude oil-natural gas
price relationship” (Energy
Economics, 2019) while
pursuing his doctorate at MIT.
“This is one reason we don’t
see many other GTL plants
operating in the world, and none
that are as large as the Pearl
complex.”
The UN-backed Principles
of Responsible Investing (PRI),
representing investors with
$86 trillion of assets under
management, now estimates
that demand for crude oil
will peak in 2026 to 2028.
Increasingly, large institutional
investors — like Oljefondet, the
$1 trillion sovereign wealth fund
of Norway — have divested
themselves of any investments
linked to oil exploration, not out
of environmental concerns but
based upon research showing
that the internal combustion
engine will eventually be
replaced by electric- or
hydrogen-powered vehicles.
They still have energy holdings
in companies that are also
developing renewable and less-
polluting fuels.
Earlier this year, the UK
parliament introduced the
Air Pollution Bill, which would
require the government to
adopt tighter limits on air
quality based on World Health
Organization recommendations.
Parliamentary committees
heard testimony that the
pollution in the UK’s major
cities cuts short the lives of
36,000 people a year, costs the
economy £20 billion annually
in healthcare and impacts
on businesses and, if left
unchecked, would cause 2.4
million new cases of disease in
the next 16 years. Until electric
vehicles begin to make up the
majority cars and trucks on the
road, the world will need cleaner
solutions. And researchers in
Qatar are working to make GTL
diesel a viable alternative.Without the critical research undertaken at QSTP, neither GTL plants would have seen
completion at such a rapid pace.Images: ©Wojciech Wrzesień - stock.adobe.comPEARL GTL
AND ORYX
GTL PLANTS
PRODUCE
ABOUT 140,000
BARRELS AND
34,000 BARRELS
PER DAY
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