Mon Jun 4, 2007 5:55 PM BST
MADRID, June 4 (Reuters) – A multibillion dollar gas-to-liquid fuel plant being built in Qatar by Royal Dutch Shell should be operational by the end of 2009, Qatar’s energy minister said on Monday. “We are on schedule and hopefully at the end of 2009 it will be operational,” Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah told Reuters, after a meeting with Spanish Industry Minister Joan Clos.
Shell’s Pearl GTL project will dwarf a Sasol plant in Qatar which has run into technical problems.
Qatar Petroleum and Exxon Mobil Corp have scrapped plans to build a similar sized one to Pearl.
Shell says Pearl’s costs will be up to $18 billion, based on it tapping 3 billion barrels at $4 to $6 a barrel.
Attiyah said the plants projected costs were “very reasonable” but would not comment further.
GTL plants can turn gas into fuels such as low sulphur diesel, increasingly in demand as governments tighten vehicle emissions standards.
© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved.
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