Chevron's gas to liquid starts flowing in Nigeria

The major is nine years behind schedule at the Escravos plant, Nigeria

Chevron has achieved first production from its gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant at Escravos, Nigeria - but nine years behind schedule and at five times the original budget. At design capacity, the facility will produce 33,000 barrels a day (b/d) of liquid fuels -mainly diesel - from over 9 million cubic metres a day of gas.  The GTL project, at a site near the Escravos oil terminal on the western side of the Niger delta, was launched in 2000 - when it was due to start-up in 2005 and was expected to cost $2 billion, a sum which included an expansion of the Escravos gas-plant to feed it. Security problems and the swampy terrain are said to have been behind the long over-run and the rise in the cost