Capital Expenditure on Gas to Liquids (GTL) plants and emerging smaller-scale solutions to total $2,674M in 2014

Friday 28 February 2014, Amsterdam

The analysis indicates that total capital expenditure on small-scale Gas to Liquids R&D and FEED, and large-scale facility EPC, will be $2,674m in 2014 as smaller-scale solutions edge ever nearer to implementation in a commercial environment and the Escravos GTL facility in Nigeria finally nears completion.

The implementation of Gas to Liquids (GTL) as a solution for the monetisation of natural gas is on the verge of no longer being determined by exceptional circumstances.  Limited to a handful of facilities, the upfront capital cost of a GTL facility is a barrier that few can overcome.  However, The new report views this situation as soon coming to an end: smaller-scale GTL solutions will change this by making GTL viable in more circumstances with a lower upfront capital cost. The ability to monetise gas reserves of a lesser size in an economically viable manner will lead to a rapid expansion of CAPEX on GTL.

After some major setbacks in the early 2000s, when many large-scale projects were cancelled, the world’s largest GTL facility, Shell’s Pearl GTL plant, opened in Qatar in 2011.  The plant is capable of producing 140,000bpd of synthetic GTL product and follows in the footsteps of the smaller Oryx GTL plant, also in Qatar, which was opened in 2006.  With the opening of these two facilities there are now four commercial Gas to Liquids plants operating around the globe.  This number is set to increase with the completion of the 34,000bpd Escravos GTL facility in Nigeria. Further large-scale GTL projects are planned around the world.

The lead analyst of the report commented that, ‘The primary driver for interest in Gas to Liquids technology is the arbitrage opportunity between the price of oil and the price of gas.  Since 2009, the natural gas price has decoupled from the crude oil price in the North American market, which has led to increased interest in building GTL facilities on the continent.  Moreover, the recently established plants in Qatar demonstrate to the rest of the oil and gas sector the viability of GTL on a large-scale.’ 

The 226 page report provides details of how spending on traditional large-scale GTL facilities and the emerging smaller-scale GTL solutions will evolve over the next 10 years, as well as providing extensive project tables and forecasts of GTL liquids production and sales.  Forecasts and analysis is further broken down by the leading nations for spending on GTL solutions. A company’s chapter offers detailed analysis and outlooks for the leading GTL liquids producers and leading GTL technology providers, including those supplying smaller-scale GTL solutions. Furthermore, interviews with leading companies from within the GTL industry: Velocys, Primus Green Energy and Infra Technology provide expert insight alongside analysis.

The Gas to Liquids (GTL) Market Forecast 2014-2024: What Are The Future Prospects for Companies in this Major XTL Segment? report will be of value to current and potential future stakeholders and/or investors in the natural gas and petroleum product industries. It will also benefit companies and research centres that wish to broaden their knowledge and understanding of a niche market that plays a pivotal role in the development of offshore resources worldwide.