Hitachi Zosen will
market Gas-to-Liquid (GTL) equipment in the U.S. to participate in the
growingly brisk shale gas business. GTL technology is to produce light oil, heating
oil, and naphtha from natural gas by a chemical reaction. Natural gas prices
declined sharply due to dramatically increasing shale gas production in the U.S. Although
GTL is an advanced technology, it is being applied only in a few countries
including Qatar
because of high natural gas prices. The situation has changed. Now, leading oil
companies worldwide are expected to start the GTL business to liquefy natural
gas locally.
Hitachi Zosen is
trying to market the reactor to react gas substances at a high temperature and
under high pressure to produce synthetic oil. Being the core equipment of GTL
technology, it is a hug vessel that is 50 m high and 10 m in diameter, and it
weighs 2,000 tons. A highly sophisticated technology is required to increase
the sealability. Currently, only four companies have enough technological
competence to built vessels of this kind. It is about 10 billion yen per unit. The
energy revolution initiated by shale gas is creating lots of business
opportunities for related industries.
A substantiative
plant of GTL technology
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