Posts Tagged ‘Gas to Liquids’

FEBRUARY 2, 2012

– Shell aiming to exploit difference in price between U.S. gas and LNG, GTL

– Investment in U.S. gas exploration to be at lower end of planned spending

– Company to make further moves into oil-rich shales

By Alexis Flynn

Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

LONDON (Dow Jones)–Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) is actively looking at ways to improve the profits it gets from U.S. natural gas, including seeking out land for a potential gas-to-diesel plant, the company said Thursday.

The Anglo-Dutch energy giant has invested heavily in U.S. shale gas assets, but new extraction techniques have led to abundant supply. Prices have fallen to a decade low and risk driving up the costs of Shell’s recent shale acquisitions. By contrast, the oil price has risen some 40% in the last two years.

“We have been looking for ways to leverage Shell’s strong resource position in North America,” said Chief Executive Peter Voser.

Chief Financial Officer Simon Henry said Shell was examining plans to develop the gas into products that are more closely linked to oil prices, such as liquefied natural gas for export and gas-to-liquids technology that turns gas into a transport fuel.

He said Shell was even seeking out land to build possible sites to build the types of facilities needed but cautioned that at a cost of “around $5 billion to $10 billion a project, we have to be selective.” Shell completed a giant gas-to-diesel project in Qatar last year, but its final cost was in the region of around $18 billion, rather than the $5 billion initially estimated in 2003.

Voser also said Thursday the company would broaden its focus to include oil-rich shale, with the company planning to spend $1 billion on liquid-rich shales alone in 2012, with production from the source expected to account for as much as 250,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day by 2017. By contrast, Voser said Shell’s expected outlay on U.S. gas exploration would be at the low end of its spending range given the weak pricing environment.

“Spending could be in the range of $5 billion and $6 billion per year on a worldwide basis over the next few years, including exploration, of which $3 billion to $5 billion could be North American gas plays,” said Voser.

The depressed U.S. natural gas price has compelled some U.S. firms to cut back on drilling. However, Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), the country’s largest natural-gas producer, said Wednesday it had no intention of curtailing its output.

-By Alexis Flynn, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 207842 9471, alexis.flynn@dowjones.com

SOURCE ARTICLE

Wednesday 7/12/2011 December

Royal Dutch Shell has spent $20bn in Qatar in the last five years, which is a real reflection of the country’s business climate, said executive officer Peter Voser.

“Thus we got engaged in bringing technology and knowledge into the country,” Voser said.

Recently, Qatar embraced its vision to be the world’s leader in gas-to-liquids technology by inaugurating the world’s largest Pearl GTL project in Ras Laffan, a Qatar-Shell joint venture.

“All these achievements have become possible here in Qatar because of HH the Emir’s visionary leadership,” Voser said. – Pratap John

SOURCE ARTICLE

By The Associated Press  | November 22, 2011

However, Shell also said it was delaying the launch of Qatargas 4 by as much as 10 months, from the start of 2010 until the end of the year. Mr. Voser said the timetable had been disrupted by delays at other LNG projects in Qatar involving other big oil companies, such as Exxon Mobil Corp, Total SA and ConocoPhillips.

Daily Telegraph

Gas will be at the heart of Royal Dutch Shell’s production strategy ahead of oil as the world attempts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, according to the energy group’s new chief executive, Peter Voser.

By Rowena Mason
Published: 8:17PM GMT 24 Nov 2009

Delivering an update on Shell’s two flagship gas projects in Qatar, which are costing the group $21bn (£12.6bn), Mr Voser admitted that one – a liquiefied natural gas (LNG) plant – would overrun by about 10 months.

However, he said construction was on track for Pearl, the other development, to start producing in 2011. It will be the world’s largest gas-to-liquids facility when completed, having spiralled in cost from $5bn to $19bn since 2003.

Both projects will lift Shell’s output by 10pc – or 350,000 barrels per day – and contribute $4bn per year in revenues. “Qatar is key to Shell’s revival,” one analyst from Deutsche Bank said.

Increased capital expenditure is part of a turnaround strategy implemented by Mr Voser that will also see Shell shed 5,000 jobs and ramp up production.

Despite Shell’s history as Europe’s largest oil company, Mr Voser made it clear that gas production would overtake oil production by 2012, as 1bn electric cars hit the world’s roads over the next few years. A few years ago, Shell’s production was split 60:40 in favour of oil.

The International Energy Agency has forecast a gas glut and depressed prices until 2015, but Mr Voser insisted the medium to long-term outlook for demand was strong.

“We are intensifying our gas production because clearly it is the fossil fuel that has the lowest carbon dioxide content,” he said. “We will be more than 50pc gas by 2012 and increasing afterwards.”

The company will add 1m barrels per day to capacity by the end of 2012 – a growth rate of 2pc. But Mr Voser said that while Shell was impressed by the Nigerian government’s efforts to ensure a ceasefire in the troubled Delta oil region, the company would no longer aim for growth in the area.

The chief executive said Alaska could be the “next big area” for oil producers, adding that Shell would deliver proposals to Russia for a major gas development in Yamal by next Spring and is still negotiating on the Kirkuk oil field with the Iraqi government.

He also emphasised the potential of carbon capture and storage technology as key to Shell’s strategy to mitigate emissions from fossil fuels.

Mr Voser ranked it as the most important issue to be discussed at the Copenhagen climate change summit next month, but warned that Europe and the UK are losing leadership in this area as a result of being slow to grant funding and subsidies.

He also admitted for the first time that Shell would accept a minimum price on carbon credits to incentivise investment in clean energy. He said it ought only to be used in the early years of a global system.

Related Articles

The great natural gas conundrum

SOURCE ARTICLE

LONDON (Dow Jones)–Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) said Monday it was making good progress with the Pearl GTL and the Qatargas 4 projects in Qatar.

LONDON, Nov 23 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) said it had delayed one of its largest schemes by around a year with start-up for the $8 billion Qatargas 4 liquefied natural gas project now planned for late 2010 and the first cargo possibly pushed into 2011.

In the light of the information printed below, how can anyone be expected to believe anything Shell says…

ARTICLE PUBLISHED TODAY BY THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

NOVEMBER 23, 2009, 10:22 A.M. ET

THE BS:

Shell Pearl GTL Project To Cost $18B-$19B, In Line With Budget

LONDON (Dow Jones)–Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s (RDSB.LN) Pearl GTL in Qatar is expected to cost $18 billion to $19 billion, in line with its planned budget, a spokeswoman said Monday, underscoring progress made by the company in controlling its costs.

The news contrasts with the disclosure four years ago by the Anglo-Dutch oil company that costs at a giant Russian liquefied natural gas plant had doubled to $20 billion.

-By Benoit Faucon, Dow Jones Newswires; +44-20-7842-9266; benoit.faucon@dowjones.com

WSJ ARTICLE

THE TRUTH

COMMENT POSTED ON SHELL BLOG BY AN EAGLE EYED SHELL INSIDER

guest1
on Nov 23rd, 2009 at 4:56 pm

Shell posted a 62 percent decline in net income to $3.25 billion and Voser said the outlook “remains very uncertain” given forecasts that demand for crude will fall the most this year since 1980. Shell is cutting 5,000 jobs, equivalent to about 5 percent of its workforce, and has reduced operating costs by about $1 billion.