Japanese consortium to begin GTL trial output

A Japanese consortium of oil and engineering firms said it will commence trial output at a gas-to-liquid (GTL) plant using new technology that can directly process natural gas containing carbon dioxide gas into naphtha, kerosene and gas oil. The plant, which was built by a group of firms including Japan Petroleum Exploration, Inpex, Nippon Oil, Cosmo Oil, Chiyoda Corp and Nippon Steel Engineering Co., will produce 500 barrels per day during the two-year trial period. The consortium aims to build a commercial plant by April 2011, in cooperation with state-run Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp.’s GTL technology, which can be used to develop unexplored fields with confirmed gas reserves. (April 20, 2009)