BP's GTL plant near completion  Posted: Tuesday, November 20,
2001   "We are very close to finishing, and we are very
excited," said Fortune, who has worked on BP's GTL team for five
years.  A gas-to-liquid plant takes natural gas and turns it
into liquid fuels that can be transported more easily.  The
first step is breaking down the gas in a "reformer" that
converts natural gas and water to carbon monoxide and hydrogen.
BP has developed a compact reformer that is 1/40th the size of
conventional ones.  "Sixty percent of the cost is in the first
step, so if we can bring that price down, it will impact the
whole project," Fortune said.  Step two takes the carbon
monoxide and hydrogen and turns that mix into a kind of
paraffin, which Fortune said would look a lot like candle wax if
allowed to harden.  The third step breaks down the molecular
chain of the paraffin so it can be turned into liquids such as
diesel and jet fuel. The fuels produced by this method contain
no polluting sulfur or nitrogen oxides.  "All o