Pearl Gas to Liquids (GTL) project won the “Best Mena Oil and Gas Project” honour at the region’s flagship industry event Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC).
Pearl GTL got the award after intense competition in recognition of the originality of its concept and the long-term value it generates for Qatar and Shell.
Sheikh Thani bin Thamer al-Thani, Qatar Shell deputy general manager received the award on behalf of Qatar Shell and Qatar Petroleum at the ceremony held in Abu Dhabi.
HE the Minister of Energy and Industry Dr Mohamed bin Saleh al-Sada said, “This is a great recognition of the joint effort put by QP and Shell to deliver a unique national asset for Qatar. Pearl GTL is indeed, a realisation of the wise vision of HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani to make Qatar the GTL capital of the world and generate added value from the country’s abundant gas resources.”
Chairman of Qatar Shell and managing director of Pearl GTL Wael Sawan said, “We are truly delighted to have been recognised at this leading industry event. Pearl GTL is indeed a one-of-a kind asset and we are very proud that together with QP we have been able to deliver and operate one of the most innovative integrated gas plants in the industry. It is testimony to the robustness of our partnership, which enabled us to create a lasting legacy for the oil and gas industry and also set new standards of excellence.”
Sheikh Thani said, “This is an outstanding recognition of our world class asset Pearl GTL, the world’s largest gas to liquids plant. We are enormously proud of the performance of the asset, which testifies to QP and Shell’s commitment to operational excellence. Pearl GTL has broken many industry records over the years and we are truly privileged to have been entrusted with the responsibility to safely and reliably produce from this asset.”
As the leading oil and gas event in the Middle East region, the ADIPEC awards recognise projects which set new performance standards by showing commitment to quality, safety and operational excellence from design phase to operation. The criteria also measure the technical and commercial values generated by the projects and their respective competitive advantages.
Pearl GTL demonstrates that GTL technology can be applied in a world-scale project to form the foundation for a safe, reliable and economically attractive business. This is particularly important given that the world’s oil reserves are dwindling while the world’s reserves of gas provides for hundreds of years of continued production.
Pearl GTL is a realisation of Qatar’s vision to diversify its energy industry and become the GTL capital of the world. It is also proof of Shell’s long term strategic approach to use innovation in practice to ensure we are ready to help tackle the challenges of the energy future.
Pearl GTL is the largest energy project in Qatar and at $18bn–19bn is Shell’s largest investment in a single project. It captures the full value chain from offshore development through onshore gas processing to refining of finished products. It consists of two unmanned offshore platforms 60km off Qatar’s coast, connected by pipeline to the world’s largest Gas to Liquids plant ever built.
Pearl GTL is based on proven, proprietary GTL technology that has been developed by Shell over the last four decades. The proprietary Shell Middle Distillate Synthesis (SMDS) process is at the heart of the two-train plant. It is underpinned by more 3,500 patents and - above all - is proven on a commercial scale for than 10 years of operational experience at Shell’s first GTL plant in Bintulu, Malaysia.
Pearl GTL has design capacity to convert 1.6bn standard cu ft per day of wellhead gas into 260,000 bpd of products, comprising 140,000bpd of GTL products and 120,000bpd of condensate, LPG and ethane.