South African GTL Company SASOL Launched its Oryx plant in Qatar producing gas

South African GTL Company SASOL Launched its Oryx plant in Qatar producing gas-to-liquid product

SASOL 01-30-2007

South African coal-to-liquids and gas-to-liquids (GTL) company Sasol said on Monday that its first GTL plant, Oryx, in Qatar, had successfully completed the start-up of the final process unit and had produced final GTL product.

“Since the construction of the plant was completed, we have been following a structured start-up plan. That plan was fulfilled at the weekend when the first final product from Oryx GTL was produced,” Oryx GM Chris Turner said in an emailed statement. www.sasol.com

“Oryx works. We are producing GTL products and we are on target to have product ready for market by the end of the first quarter as previously announced.”

Sasol reported last week that Oryx had reached intermediate production, with its first shipment ready for market in the final week of March.

“Only the product work-up unit now remains to be tested,” the firm said in a statement on its website.

“Subject to current levels of progress being maintained, the plant will achieve shipment-ready product in the first quarter of 2007, as previously announced,” Oryx GTL GM Chris Turner said, speaking at the GTLtec conference in Doha, Qatar.

He said that the Fischer-Tropsch technology had produced intermediate product and had proved itself.

“Overall, the start up was progressing smoothly, though, as we expected, it has not been without its challenges. This goes with the territory, however, and I am very pleased with the plant and very pleased with the team,” Turner stated.

Oryx GTL was inaugurated in June 2006, and has since been subject to a progressive start up process.

"The plant was completed within budget, but start-up took “a couple of months” longer than anticipated.

“That's not much on a pioneering and complex project like Oryx GTL,” Sasol said.

“The message today is that Oryx GTL works and is on track to be the highly successful pioneer for a global industry that we always said it would be. That's good news for Qatar and its good news for the GTL industry as a whole,” Turner concluded.

Oryx GTL is a 34 000-bpd GTL plant in Qatar's Ras Laffan Industrial City that will produce ultraclean, high-performance liquid fuels from gas.

It is a joint venture between State-owned Qatar Petroleum (51%) and Sasol (49%). Construction of Oryx GTL started in December 2003.

The plant will use around 330-million cubic feet a day of 'lean' gas from Qatar's north gasfield in the Gulf, as feedstock to produce a planned 34 000 bpd of liquids. This will comprise 24 000 bpd of diesel, 9 000 bpd of naphtha and 1 000 bpd of liquefied petroleum gas