Sasol opens world-first gas-to-liquids plant in Qatar

Petrochemicals company Sasol tomorrow officially opens its world-first gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant in Qatar, which has been built to produce alternative cleaner fuels for the global market.The $950-million Oryx GTL plant is a Sasol-Qatar Petroleum joint venture, which will be scaled up in the next few months to convert gas from the Gulf's North Field into 34 000 barrels a day (bbpd) of liquid hydrocarbons. It will produce mainly environmentally-friendly, high-performance GTL diesel, using proven Sasol technology.Oryx is the first low-temperature Fischer-Tropsch GTL facility outside South Africa that is dedicated to the production of new-generation GTL diesel. In partnership with Sasol Chevron and Qatar Petroleum, the intention is to triple the existing capacity of the plant to some 100 000 bbpd. The feasibility of building an integrated GTL plant with a capacity of about 130 000 bbpd is also being explored.This would bring Middle Eastern production to within 30 000 bbpd of Sasol's large Secunda plant, which produces 160 000 bbpd of fuel from coal in Mpumalanga. “We believe the Oryx GTL plant will pave the way for developing substantial new GTL capacity in Qatar and other gas-rich regions,,” says Sasol CE Pat Davies.At a time when an ever-increasing number of countries are looking for greater diversity and security of energy supply, Davies views GTL plants as making good strategic, economic and environmental sense.Sasol Chevron, the London-based joint venture between Sasol and US oil giant Chevron Corporation, will start marketing the GTL diesel in Europe later this year.In markets such as Europe, US, Japan and Australia, the maximum permissible sulphur content in diesel has been statutorily reduced down from as many as 5 000 parts per million (ppm) 15 years ago to as few as 10 ppm today. Remarkably, Sasol's GTL diesel has a sulphur content of less than 5 ppm and has been developed entirely in South Africa, in order to provide superior performance to diesel engines, while substantially reducing harmful emissions.Sasol's technology will also be used at Escravos, in Nigeria, where it has found a viable economic use for natural gas that is currently being wastefully flared. The Escravos GTL plant, which is in the engineering, procurement and construction phase, is expected to be operational in three years.Other countries, such as Australia, have also shown interest in Sasol's GTL technology. Sasol's strategy is compelling in that it is a move away from the current global energy model of mere extraction and shipment of resources from energy-rich countries to outside markets. More attractively, the Sasol model involves adding value to the energy resources of a country in that country, prior to exportation.In this way, technology is transferred and becomes wealth-creating and job-creating within the country that has the resource.Such a strategy means that Sasol is not only providing an alternative fuel to consumers, but is also able to provide an enticing alternative strategic model to producer countries.In South Africa, for instance, Sasol provides 40% of South Africa's liquid-fuel needs, employment to 170 000 people, R40-billion a year to South Africa's gross domestic product and R30-billion a year in foreign-exchange saving.Meanwhile, the 12-person team that undertook the 46-day, 11 000-km journey from South Africa to Qatar to prove the efficacy of the new GTL diesel, arrived in Doha on June 5, in time for Tuesday's official opening.During the trip, the GTL fuel was found to meet every performance standard achieved by conventional oil-derived diesel, while burning substantially cleane