The Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Ed Miliband met several hundred British engineers working on the project, which is being constructed by Qatar Petroleum and Royal Dutch Shell plc.
Over $1 billion of orders for goods and services for the project have been placed in the United Kingdom, including a 30,000 tonne steel order to a firm in the North West of England. Over five million worker-hours of engineering and procurement work have been executed in the United Kingdom, including the conceptual engineering. The largest process automation system ever built in the energy industry was designed and is being tested in Britain.
Some 35,000 people from over 50 countries are currently working on the construction site in Ras Laffan Industrial City.
Pearl GTL will convert natural gas from Qatar’s massive North Field into 140,000 barrels per day of high quality liquid fuels and products for use around the world. The project will also produce 120,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day of condensate, liquefied petroleum gas, and ethane.
GTL products include high quality GTL Fuel, which can be used in diesel engines and contribute to improving local air quality. It can be blended with conventional diesel or, technically, used pure. GTL Fuel has been trialled in city fleets around the world including in a London bus in 2003.
GTL Kerosene is currently being tested as a jet fuel in a number of trial flights. In February 2008, an Airbus A380 conducted the first test flight of a commercial aircraft using the fuel, flying from Filton, UK, to Toulouse, France. GTL Baseoils are high quality lubricants.
His Excellency Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy and Industry of Qatar, said: “We are glad to welcome the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change to Ras Laffan Industrial City, including to the Pearl GTL project. Qatar is blessed with natural resources which the world needs. Both were able to see the effort we are expending to develop them. We are fortunate that some British companies have accepted our invitation to help in this great endeavour.”
Mr Miliband said: “British companies and workers are contributing to the development of this huge project, both here in Qatar and back at home. I wish them every success in a project that will help meet the world's demand for energy. The Gulf's oil and gas will continue to be an important source of energy for Britain as we work to develop and innovate the necessary low carbon technologies.”
Andy Brown, Shell’s Managing Director of Pearl GTL said: “We are pleased the Prime Minister was able to see the scale of the Pearl GTL project, which is only one part of the work Qatar is undertaking to develop its energy resources to secure energy supplies for the world. In due course products from this plant may be supplied to the UK, helping meet the demand for energy and contributing to the improvement of local air quality. Meanwhile British engineering ingenuity is playing a vital part in this important project.”
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