Qatar sells first commercial shipment of GTL Gasoil

Qatar has sold its first commercial shipment of GTL Gasoil from the Shell-operated Pearl gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant, the largest energy project ever launched by the country. The sale marks the start of production of GTL products as the State of Qatar and Shell, the operator of the Pearl GTL plant, begin to receive revenue from the project, which is located in Qatar's Ras Laffan Industrial City. Production will ramp up from the first production unit (‘train') of the Pearl GTL project over the coming months, with the second train expected to start up before the end of 2011 and the plant expected to reach full production capacity by the middle of 2012. "The Pearl GTL project will play an important role in further enhancing our diversification of the North Field gas utilisation and will support the optimisation of Qatar's competitive position in the world markets by supplying high quality GTL products," said Mohammad Bin Saleh Al Sada, Qatar's Minister of Energy and Industry. Peter Voser, Chief Executive Officer of Royal Dutch Shell added: "Today's milestone provides further evidence that innovative technology and strong partnerships can help meet the world's growing need for energy. I would like to thank Qatar Petroleum and the State of Qatar for their support throughout, to make such a substantial project possible." Once fully operational, Pearl GTL is expected to produce 1.6 billion cubic feet of gas per day from the North Field, which will be processed to deliver an expected 120,000 barrels per day of condensate, LPG and ethane and an expected 140,000 barrels per day of gas-to-liquids (GTL) products. These include GTL Kerosene, for blending into a clean burning aviation fuel; GTL Gasoil, a clean-burning diesel-type automotive fuel; GTL Base Oils for premium lubricants; GTL Normal Paraffin for detergents; and GTL Naphtha, a high-paraffin feedstock for the petrochemical industry. From / Gulf News