Current Gas-To-Liquids (GTL) technology provides efficient and selective conversion of natural gas to highly-valued hydrocarbon liquids. Specifically, breakthroughs in catalyst formulation, reactor design, and process design ensure production of high quality products such as ultra-low sulfur diesel and specialty waxes. Many GTL technologies have been demonstrated in a variety of applications worldwide to convert natural gas to ultra-clean distillate fuels and other products. The development and successful operation of many GTL projects have proven that such technologies can be implemented with limited development/technical risk and have demonstrated design flexibility to meet producer needs. In today's market, the conversion of natural gas to high-quality, finished liquid products is particularly attractive due to gas and hydrocarbon liquid pricing differentials. Analysis indicates that GTL technology is now economically viable long term in North America and relevant applications have been identified to meet the needs of domestic producers. GTL can be deployed in the midstream as an alternative to, or integrated with, traditional natural gas processing schemes or as an alternative to traditional gas marketing channels via integration with transmission operations. In either scenario, GTL enables natural gas producers to economically convert proven producing gas reserves to "oil" reserves. The time is now to employ GTL in the North American gas value chain to enhance the value of existing gas reserves and support efforts to achieve energy independence in the future.
展开▼
