$1.3 Billion Energy Investment

[G8trGr8t]

one more step in the right direction...putting natural gas to work by converting it to methanol which is then used for a range of products. creating the feedstock for all the different products should lead to more manufacturing using that feedstock.

VACHERIE, La. — Today, Gov. Bobby Jindal, South Louisiana Methanol CEO Barry Williamson and Todd Corp. Group CEO Jon Young announced that South Louisiana Methanol LP will invest $1.3 billion in a new methanol production facility on the banks of the Mississippi River in St. James Parish. Located across the river from the Nucor Corp. project in Convent, La., the South Louisiana Methanol, or SLM, project will create 63 new direct jobs paying an average salary of $66,500 a year, plus benefits. LED also estimates the project will result in 374 new indirect jobs, for a total of more than 430 new jobs for the area.

Austin, Texas-based Zero Emission Energy Plant Ltd., or ZEEP, and New Zealand-based Todd Corp. are joint owners of the project, which will result in a world-scale methanol plant. Methanol is used by manufacturers to produce everyday goods, such as plastics, polyester fibers and fabrics, pesticides, fuel additives, pharmaceuticals and adhesives for the wood products industry. The SLM methanol facility will be located in the Port of South Louisiana district, with access to interstate and intrastate natural gas and carbon dioxide pipelines.

Gov. Jindal said, "Today is a great day for St. James Parish and our entire state. The inexpensive price and high inventories of natural gas in Louisiana – coupled with our incomparable workforce and strong business climate – helped make it clear to South Louisiana Methanol that Louisiana is the best place to invest and create jobs. St. James Parish’s location on the Mississippi River places it at the heart of Louisiana’s advanced petrochemical manufacturing sector, complete with easy access to a world-class interstate pipeline network and global shipping infrastructure. South Louisiana Methanol’s investment is the latest example of the renaissance our energy and chemical industries are experiencing today, which is creating thousands of good-paying jobs for our people."

As a liquid hydrocarbon product, methanol is distributed as an intermediate feedstock for chemical manufacturers in the Gulf Coast region and to foreign markets. ZEEP and Todd Corp. chose St. James Parish for the new facility because of the state’s strong business climate and the high inventories and inexpensive price of natural gas in Louisiana, as well as the area’s strategic shipping location at the Port of South Louisiana – the largest port in the Western Hemisphere by capacity. Since 2008, more than $32 million in investments and upgrades have been made to the port.

http://www.louisianaeconomicdevelopment.com/led-news/news-releases/south-louisiana-methanol-announces-$13-billion-investment-in-st-james-parish.aspx

next up is gas to liquids plants which will convert natural gas to fuel that can be burned in airplanes, cars, etc

[G8trGr8t]

natural gas to diesel and jet fuel...why aren't we investing in this instead of solyndra and solar one and $100k teslas and $40k volts?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterdet...arger-players/

Recently, British Airways announced an agreement to purchase $500 million of jet fuel converted from landfill gas. It signed with a consortium of companies to create a conversion facility in the UK, utilizing the Fischer Tropsch (FT) technology to convert gas to liquid fuels. The technology is not new, dating back to the 1920s and was used by Germany in World War II as well as South Africa during the apartheid era of isolation.

This gas-to-liquids (GTL) process is now more broadly entering the rest of the world. In Louisiana, Sasol is investing between $16 and 21 bn to create a sizable facility for conversion of natural gas to diesel fuel. Similarly, Shell has a project in the $18 to19 bn range in Qatar to exploit cheap natural gas, and is also exploring a potential project on the US Gulf Coast.

On a smaller scale, a number of companies are mobilizing to utilize the FT process to take advantage of more site-specific opportunities. Their goal is to create small-scale and modular GTL systems both on- and offshore to take advantage of a wide range of gas resources that are by themselves too small for larger multibillion GTL plants.

In particular, these companies plan to create GTL opportunities where gas byproduct from oil production is too far from pipelines and thus flared, and from smaller gas fields where scale has been a limiting factor. It has been estimated that less than 10% of the world’s gas fields are large enough to sustain a 10,000 barrels per day (bpd) GTL facility. But scaling production down to the 2,000 bpd range is estimated to open up 40% of the world’s gas fields to economic viability.

One of the companies most active in this area is UK-based Oxford Catalysts Group. They are the ones bringing the Fischer Tropsch technology to the British Airways deal. They are also aggressively pursuing natural gas plays. With15 years of experience and $300 million in investments by partners such as BP, Chevron, Petrobras, and – most recently – Roman Abramovich, Russian billionaire and Chelsea Football club owner, investing £5m for a 3.5% stake Oxford is pursuing a strategy to enter the market with modular plants that can convert gas in the 1,000 to 15,000 pbd range.

[brainstorm]

Good move in Louisiana. It just makes good economic sense.

I have NO idea why we aren't investing in GTL technology and industry.

[northgagator]

Originally Posted by G8trGr8t

natural gas to diesel and jet fuel...why aren't we investing in this instead of solyndra and solar one and $100k teslas and $40k volts?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterdet...arger-players/

Two reasons.
1, Private investors were not taken in by the pie in the sky projections from the so called green energy companies like Solyndra. They knew that the solar panel industry was depleted territory and that China's investment in the industry made it foolish to pump their money into it.
2, The companies that are investing do not have bundlers or lobbyist investing their money to get government investing their money to get tax breaks. They don't need the gov't money. They get more bang for their bucks by investing in tax breaks. Look at the size of their investments in these projects we are talking about multi billion dollar deals. They don't need $100 million or even $500 million for investments. What they want is to improve their bottom line. Lower or avoiding taxes improves your bottom line.

[G8trGr8t]

http://news.msn.com/science-technolo...hing-up-to-gas

NEW YORK — Home satellite TV provider DISH Network Corp. has signed a deal to run 200 of its trucks on propane, in the latest indication that the niche fuel could soon rival natural gas as the United States' cheap transport alternative.

Once considered a low value by-product of oil refining and natural gas processing, used primarily in home heating and in industry, propane is now being used as a fuel in some new school buses and trucks around the country. That is happening as businesses like DISH look for ways to move away from expensive gasoline and diesel so that they can cut their fuel bills.

The boom in U.S. shale oil and gas production has driven down propane prices. And while it is still more costly than natural gas at the pump, propane engine makers argue that their products and refueling stations are cheaper than those provided by natural gas rivals.