Revolution in the natural gas industry?

The demand for cleaner automotive fuels has created an opening for converting natural gas to liquid transport fuels and blending agents using Fischer-Tropsch technology. While the technology is well established, it is not yet clear whether the conversion can compete with crude oil refining or with pipelines and liquefied natural gas. Although all the oil giants are interested in the technology, the only commercial-sized plant in the world was the Shell plant in Malaya which had capacity of 12,000 bpd, but the profitability of the plant came from the wax by-products. The plant has been closed since a fire and explosion in 1997. The process chain is described. The gas-to-liquid activities and achievements of Saol, Exxon and Texaco are reported. It was concluded that although there are still some problems to be ironed-out, there is a promising future for gas-to-liquid conversion. (UK)