Shell’s Qatar GTL project on track for full production by mid-2012

Shell is on schedule to have its huge gas-to-liquid (GTL) project in Qatar fully operational by the middle of next year, a company spokesperson said on Tuesday.

The Anglo-Dutch oil major has invested about $18bn-19bn (€12-13bn) in the project.

The Pearl GTL facility, at Ras Laffan, is the world’s biggest with a production capacity of 1.6 billion cubic feet of gas a day when fully operational. This will be processed to generate 120,000 bbl/day of GTL gasoil, kerosene, base oils, n-paraffins and naphtha.

“What we say about Pearl [GTL] is that the project is on track for GTL train 1 across mid-2011, start-up of train 2 before the end of 2011 and fully ramped up by mid-2012,” said the spokesperson in an e-mailed statement.

Pearl GTL is a joint venture between Shell and Qatar Petroleum.

The project is expected to provide the ethane feedstock for a planned cracker project of the two companies in Qatar.

($1 = €0.69)