GTL pushes at the margins
26 February 2013
Turning natural gas into diesel has many advantages, especially in the US
DESPITE its vast resource potential, shale gas has yet to find its way into the world’s fuel tanks. Gas-to-liquids (GTL) technology could change that.
The abundance of shale gas, especially in North America, is creating an opening for the wider adoption of GTL to compete with oil-based fuels.
Until now, the biggest beneficiaries of low natural gas prices have been utilities and power companies which have switched their feedstock from higher-cost coal. But there are even bigger inroads to be made in transportation, where oil accounts for 96% of all motor fuels produced around the world.
Nowhere is this more obvious than in the US, where natural gas holds barely 3% of the 13.45 million barrel a day (b/d) transportation market. Given the $489 billion the...
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