The Pearl GTL is a

gas to liquids Gas to liquids (GTL) is a oil refinery, refinery process to convert natural gas or other gaseous hydrocarbons into longer-chain hydrocarbons, such as gasoline or diesel fuel. Methane-rich gases are converted into liquid synthetic fuels. Two general ...

(GTL) plant based in Ras Laffan,

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

. It converts

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

into liquid

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...

products. It is the largest GTL plant in the world. The first commercial shipment from the Pearl GTL was made on 13 June 2011. Pearl GTL received the 2021 "Asset of the Year" award by

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

Technical features

Upon achieving its full capacity in 2012, the Pearl GTL will convert of natural gas into of petroleum liquids and into

natural gas liquids Natural-gas condensate, also called natural gas liquids, is a low-density mixture of hydrocarbon liquids that are present as gaseous components in the raw natural gas produced from many natural gas fields. Some gas species within the raw natura ...

and

ethane Ethane ( , ) is a naturally occurring Organic compound, organic chemical compound with chemical formula . At standard temperature and pressure, ethane is a colorless, odorless gas. Like many hydrocarbons, ethane is List of purification methods ...

. The integrated process automation and control system for the main plant and the onplot tank farm will be designed and implemented by

Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building automation, industrial automa ...

, while that for the offplot tank farm and the loading berths will be designed and implemented by

Invensys Invensys Limited was a multinational engineering and information technology company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. At its height, the company had offices in more than 50 countries and its products were sold in around 180 countries. I ...

. Page Europa was contracted as overall Telecom System Integrator for both onshore and offshore telecommunications systems.

ABB Group ABB Group is a Swedish-Swiss multinational electrical engineering corporation. Incorporated in Switzerland as ABB Ltd., and headquartered in Zurich, it is dual-listed on the Nasdaq Nordic exchange in Stockholm, Sweden, and the SIX Swiss Exch ...

was contracted to supply all of the electrical and control systems. The first train will be commissioned in 2010, followed by the second train in 2011. The main contractors are KBR and JGC Corporation. Other contractors are J. Ray McDermott,

CB&I CB&I, originally known as Chicago Bridge & Iron Co, is a global Engineering, procurement, and construction, engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firm that specializes in storage solutions for infrastructure and industrial projects. C ...

Consolidated Contractors Company Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC) () is the largest construction company in the Middle East and ranks among the top 25 international contractors with a revenue of US$5.3 billion in 2013 and 1.872 billion by 2020. CCC has offices and project ...

, Kentz, Descon Engineering Limited. The process pumps are supplied by

Flowserve The Flowserve Corporation is an American multinational corporation and one of the largest suppliers of industrial and environmental machinery such as pumps, valves, end face mechanical seals, automation, and services to the power, oil, gas, ch ...

, chemical injection pumps are by LEWA Germany and eight turbomachinery trains for use in the air separation systems are supplied by Linde. Half of the 24 reactors for the

Fischer–Tropsch process The Fischer–Tropsch process (FT) is a collection of chemical reactions that converts a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, known as syngas, into liquid hydrocarbons. These reactions occur in the presence of metal catalysts, typically at te ...

were supplied by MAN AG. The Pearl GTL project builds upon the foundations of the smaller scale GTL project in

Bintulu Bintulu is a coastal town on the island of Borneo in the central region of Sarawak, Malaysia. Bintulu is located northeast of Kuching, northeast of Sibu, and southwest of Miri, Malaysia, Miri. With a population of 114,058 as of 2010, Bintulu ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, which has been in operation since 1993. The plant is expected to reach full production in mid-2012.

Cost

In 2003, the project cost was estimated to be US$5 billion. However, after facing huge cost escalation, it was reported to be $18 billion in 2007, and, according to QatarEnergy sources, final project cost is expected to reach as high as $24 billion. Because Shell's contract provided them with the input gas for free, the project was calculated to be viable once the

price of oil The price of oil, or the oil price, generally refers to the spot price of a barrel () of benchmark crude oil—a reference price for buyers and sellers of crude oil such as West Texas Intermediate (WTI), Brent Crude, Dubai Crude, OPEC ...

exceeded $40 per

barrel A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden stave (wood), staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers ...

Project company

The project is a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) between

QatarEnergy QatarEnergy (), formerly Qatar Petroleum (QP), is a state-owned petroleum company of Qatar. The company operates all oil and gas activities in Qatar, including exploration, production, refining, transport, and storage. The President and CEO is S ...

and

GTL fuel

The primary products of the Pearl GTL plant is

naphtha Naphtha (, recorded as less common or nonstandard in all dictionaries: ) is a flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixture. Generally, it is a fraction of crude oil, but it can also be produced from natural-gas condensates, petroleum distillates, and ...

and transport fuels, with

paraffin Paraffin may refer to: Substances * Paraffin wax, a white or colorless soft solid (also in liquid form) that is used as a lubricant and for other applications * Liquid paraffin (drug), a very highly refined mineral oil used in cosmetics and for med ...

s and lubricant oils as smaller by-products of the process. The transport fuel can be used in existing light and heavy diesel engines and has been shown to have a number of benefits, such as lower emissions and engine performance enhancement.

References

External links

* {{coord, 25, 54, 18, N, 51, 30, 19, E, display=title Natural gas plants Petroleum production Energy infrastructure in Qatar Natural gas in Qatar Shell plc subsidiaries Synthetic fuel facilities JGC Corporation Non-renewable resource companies established in 2011