Turkmenistan Gets Into Gas-to-Liquids
A month after the postponement of a gas-to-liquids plant in Uzbekistan, neighbouring Turkmenistan announced that it is preparing to start a similar project.
GTL relies on the cost of gas being lower than oil products with which it competes, so today's low oil prices discourage this kind of investment.
According to a government announcement, a consortium including state Turkmengaz company, LG, Hyundai (South Korea) and Itochu (Japan) would build the plant, aimed at converting 3.7bn m3/yr of natural gas into liquid synthetic fuels (GTL) in Ahal province, in the central region of Turkmenistan.
No costs were disclosed or the start date, but the government said that it would produce 1.1mn mt/yr of diesel and 0.4mn mt/yr of naphtha.
Turkmenistan’s plan to build a GTL plant came a month after South Africa's Sasol announced that it is reviewing its plan to participate in building a $5.6bn GTL plant in Uzbekistan, citing current low oil prices as its reason.
Uzbekistan’s GTL plant has been projected to convert 3.5bn m3/yr of natural gas to produce 864,000 tons of diesel fuel; 304,000 tons of aviation kerosene; 395,000 tons of naphtha; and 11,200 tons of liquefied gas.
The project was planned to start in 2014 and was expected to become operational by August 2017.