Royal Dutch Shell has reconfirmed good progress of the Pearl GTL and the Qatargas 4 projects. The company is partnering with Qatar Petroleum for both the projects.
Pearl GTL will use Shell’s proprietary gas-to-liquids (GTL) technology to convert some 1.6 billion cubic feet (bcf/d) of gas per day into clean-burning oil products such as gasoil, high specification lubricants base oils, and chemicals feedstock. Shell will use its brand, technology, global supply chain and marketing capabilities to maximise the value of these products in global markets.
Pearl GTL is designed to produce 120,000 barrels per day (b/d) of natural gas liquids (NGLs) and ethane, and 140,000 b/d of GTL products. Shell is funding 100% of the development costs for Pearl GTL, under a profit sharing agreement with the State of Qatar.
Shell has now entered into the testing phase at Pearl GTL, having inaugurated the plant’s control room. The control room comprises of almost 1,000 control cabinets hosting 179 servers which are programmed with 12m lines of software code. The system is linked to every part of the plant by about 5,850 kilometres of control cables.
While testing begins on thousands of pieces of equipment that have already been installed at the plant, construction on the rest of the plant continues. Some two million tonnes of equipment and materials have been imported to the site.
Qatargas 4 is designed to convert some 1.4 bcf/d of natural gas into liquefied natural gas (LNG) and NGLs. Qatargas 4 will add to Shell’s current worldwide LNG capacity of 18.5 million tonnes per year (mtpa).
Qatargas 4 will have a capacity of 7.8 mtpa of LNG and some 70,000 boe/d of NGLs. Shell has a 30% stake in Qatargas 4, with partner Qatar Petroleum, under a tax-and-royalty structure. Clean-burning LNG will be sold to customers in China, Dubai and the US, with further new markets currently being developed.
Shell said that construction is progressing well at Pearl, with both schedule and budget in line with the company’s expectations. Major construction at both Pearl GTL and Qatargas 4 is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2010, with production ramp-up from late 2010 and into 2011. Pearl GTL upstream production is expected to reach 320,000 boe/d. Qatargas 4 is expected to reach 280,000 boe/d.
Shell’s annual outlay on the two Qatar projects peaked in 2008. Once Pearl GTL and Qatargas 4 come on stream, Qatar has the potential to contribute some 350,000 boe/d of upstream production for Shell.
Peter Voser, CEO of Shell, said: “I am very pleased with the progress that we are making with Pearl GTL and Qatargas 4. We have enjoyed tremendous support from our partner Qatar Petroleum and we are pleased to play our part to establish Qatar as the number one LNG and GTL producer in the world.
“On today’s basis these two projects alone would represent over 10% of our world-wide production. Qatar underpins Shell’s growth plans to 2012 and will be a heartland for decades to come.”