Royal Dutch Shell is making a huge bet:transforming natural gas to diesel fuel
Royal Dutch Shell is making a huge — and risky — bet on technology that transforms natural gas to diesel fuel
In the search for alternatives to gasoline, Royal Dutch Shell PLC has made one of the biggest and boldest bets in the energy industry.
The Anglo-Dutch company is investing up to $18 billion in a vast plant in Qatar to transform natural gas into clean-burning synthetic diesel fuel. Due to come on line in late 2010, it is one of the world’s most ambitious industrial projects and Shell’s largest single investment.
But the development, known as Pearl GTL, involves huge risks. It’s based on a technology known as gas to liquids, or GTL, that is untested on such a massive scale. And with construction costs higher than they were when the project was announced in 2002, some Shell investors fear that Pearl could suffer the same extended delays and budget blowouts that have plagued other multibillion-dollar energy projects around the world in recent years.
