Doha, Oct 20: State-run Qatar Petroleum and Royal/Dutch Shell signed today a five-billion dollar Heads of Agreement (HoA) to build a huge plant in the Gulf desert Emirate to convert natural gas into liquid fuels. Qatar's energy minister Abdullah Hamad al-Attiya, who is also QP chairman signed with Sir Philip Watts, chairman of Royal Dutch/Shell, at a public ceremony.
The accord envisages the construction of a vast gas-to-liquid (GTL) plant in Qatar to produce naptha and environmentally friendly diesel fuels.
According to Qatar's energy ministry the contract would be finalised in the second half of 2004. A letter of intent was signed last year.
The new plant would aim to produce around 137,000 barrels per day of liquefied fuel.
GTL technology is relatively untested, but energy companies are hopeful that the new fuels it produces could become increasingly popular as demand grows for less polluting diesel vehicle engines. Bureau Report