Why The Citi Paper Is So Important -- Natural Gas to Diesel -- Nothing To Do With The Bakken In The Short Term

Four natural gas-to-diesel stories (three of the four stories at the link):

• Shell already has its Pearl gas-to-liquids facility in Qatar; went on-line last June (2011); enough diesel from natural gas to fill more than 160,000 cars/day
• Shell considering a $10 billion plant, a "giant plant," similar to Pearl, for Louisiana; wil take up to 2 years to develop plans; make decision
• Sasol, South Africa, is undertaking an 18-month feasibility study for a $10 billion gas-to-liquids facility adjacent to its existing chemical plant in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana
• Sasol, South Africa, owns stake in gas-to-liquids plant in Qatar, commissioned in 2007 (see comment below; this data point not in original post

Building these plants is prohibitively expensive; the Qatar plant cost escalated to $18 billion. Officials now say lessons learned will keep costs in check. The diesel produced in the US would be sold to Latin America and Europe. Prominent Democratic senators want the US to process natural gas in the US and not export natural gas to be refined elsewhere. But something tells me these same Democratic senators would never consider Solyndra-like loans/subsidies/guarantees to oil companies to help move these projects along. Of course, the biggest risk: the EPA stomps on gas-to-liquids technology as just another carbon foot print.