GTL
Our GTL technology turns natural gas into valuable, high-quality transport fuels, motor oils and ingredients for everyday necessities such as plastics, detergents and cosmetics. It is the result of more than 40 years of research, development and commercial experience. It enables natural gas resource holders to access the global oil products market, which helps those who want to diversify risk.
Our proprietary Shell GTL technology is at the heart of our GTL plants. We have invested more than $1 billion and filed over 3,500 patents in developing our gas-to-liquids process.
In 1993, we opened the world’s first commercial GTL plant in Bintulu, Malaysia with a capacity of 14,700 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d).
In 2011, we started up Pearl GTL in Qatar with a capacity of about 140,000 boe/d of high-quality liquid hydrocarbon products and 120,000 boe/d of natural gas liquids (NGL) and ethane. Of Pearl’s two trains, the second train underwent planned maintenance from March to May 2016. As announced in December 2016, Pearl operated at a reduced rate of production due to unforeseen maintenance required on the gasifier units, until a controlled shutdown on February 1, 2017. We expect Pearl to be ramping back up during the second quarter of 2017.
Recognising the market demand for mid-sized GTL facilities between the scales of SMDS (Bintulu) and Pearl GTL, Shell has developed a more flexible technology that can be used for GTL plants in a range of sizes.
Natural gas is abundant, versatile and affordable. GTL can help countries with natural gas resources grow their economies, as new gas supplies come on-stream to satisfy growing global demand for liquid products.
