抄録
Natural gas and gas base liquid fuels such as FT (Fischer-Tropsch) Diesel are expected as clean fuels. Natural gas consumption is evaluated to be increasing rapidly within next 30 years. Now, a lot of changes are observed in natural gas and LNG trade and the competition in the gas trade is coming to severe. But, because a large investment is required for LNG project and pipeline project, sharing of risk and profit and cooperative competition between suppliers and buyers are important to stably supply enough natural gas to the market.
Conversion of natural gas to liquid transportation fuels and other specialty products is seen as a potentially attractive means of monetizing “stranded” gas. A large number of potential commercial-scale GTL (gas-to-liquid) projects are now being planned with a capacity totaling 1.6-1.8 MMBPD. Based on the market studies, it was evaluated that there are potential markets for GTL products, especially FT Diesel and FT Naphtha, and that timing of the start-up and further cost reduction are keys to successfully introduce these products to the market.
