Shell Picks Site for $12.5bn Gas-to-Liquids Plant

Shell has selected Ascension Parish, near Sorrento, La., as the site for its planned $12.5 billion gas-to-liquids (GTL) facility, according to company officials and Gov. Bobby Jindal.

The oil and gas company will finalize its decision to build the project after site evaluation and preliminary engineering studies are completed. Construction would follow that decision.

Shell’s Gulf Coast GTL facility would be one of the first of its kind built to commercial scale in the US, the company says. If built, the proposed project would use natural gas to create cleaner-burning transportation fuels, such as natural gas-based diesel and jet fuels and other products, such as specialty waxes and the building blocks for lubricants, plastics and detergents.

According to the terms of an incentive agreement with the state, the company would create 740 direct jobs, should the project be built. The expected average annual salary of the direct new jobs would be about $100,000, plus benefits. Louisiana Economic Development commissioned an economic impact analysis from Louisiana State University (LSU) that indicates the 740 new direct jobs would result in approximately 3,900 new indirect jobs, for a total of more than 4,600 new permanent jobs in Louisiana.

LSU further estimates the project would produce a total economic impact of $77.6 billion over the construction period and the first 15 years of operation.

In other natural gas news, Honeywell’s OP has formed an alliance with engineering and construction company Black & Veatch to help natural gas producers and fuel providers meet growing demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a transportation fuel and for off-road, high-horsepower applications.

Through the alliance, the two companies will offer integrated, small-scale LNG plants capable of processing between 50,000 and 500,000 gallons of LNG per day per single processing train, with the capability to extend capacity, the companies say.

As more natural gas vehicles hit the road, the need for refueling stations is becoming urgent, according to a July Navigant Research report that predicts 40 percent of the stations that will be opened in the next two years will be in North America.  By 2020, there will be 30,000 stations worldwide, the report forecasts.