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Petro SA unveils Qatar venture
David McKay
Posted: Wed, 22 Mar 2006

[miningmx.com] -- PETRO SA is negotiating construction of a 12,000 ton/day fuel grade methanol plant in Persian Gulf country, Qatar, as South Africa’s state-owned oil and gas firm seeks to diversify its international business.

“We’ve completed a pre-feasibility project and are waiting for a response for the Qatari government,” said Willem de Meyer, vice-president of new ventures at Petro SA.

“This is not a bidding process, but a negotiated arrangement,” De Meyer said. He was speaking at the Oil Africa 2006 conference in Cape Town.

Petro SA operates the world’s largest gas-to-liquids complex at Mossel Bay in South Africa. The 36,000 barrels/day operation has a crude oil equivalent of 45,000 barrels/day.

Gas reserves from Mossel Bay’s main production blocks will be exhausted by 2010, but Petro SA said it would consolidate smaller pockets of gas reserves in the area – known as the South Coast Gas development to keep the plant operational.
Sasol appears to be back in the hunt for the Algerian plant
Commenting on prospects for GTL technology, De Meyer said: “GTL steps into the gap between current oil production and demand, particularly as competition for resources grows from Eastern countries and cash rich investors”.

Anti-flaring legislation, laws aimed at stopping the practice of burning valuable gas reserves that sit atop oil deposits, was also providing a useful market for GTL, De Meyer said.

Petro SA was also bidding in joint venture with BHP Billiton and Norway’s Statoil, against a consortium consisting of Sasol and Chevron Corp., which also owns GTL technology, for construction of a $5bn GTL plant on Algeria’s coast. Shell is bidding on its own for the contract.

“Sasol appears to be back in the hunt for the Algerian plant,” said De Meyer who was commenting on reports that the New York listed firm had backed out of the bidding process.

The Algerian GTL plant will liberate the country’s Tinrhert gas field.