Nacero awards FEED work for first US gas-to-gasoline plant

Texas-based gas company Nacero has awarded a front-end engineering and design contract to engineering firm Bechtel for the first natural gas-to-gasoline manufacturing facility in the US, gas company Nacero said May 25.

The facility in Texas will produce 115,000 barrels/day of gasoline. Earlier Nacero issued a contract to Denmark's Haldor Topsoe to use its gas-to-gasoline process technology for the facility. It is working on the project with Odessa Development Corp.

"For America to achieve its domestic energy and climate change mitigation goals, we need big vision and laser-focused execution,” Nacero’s CEO Jay McKenna said. “Bechtel is centre stage in helping us get there."

Producing motor fuels from natural gas is only done at a handful of locations in the world, as its relatively high cost makes it uncompetitive compared with oil-based fuel production. The technology is typically employed in places where there is either abundant, low-cost gas supply or where conventional fuel is either expensive or in scarce supply. Texan oilfields produce large volumes of associated gas that operators can find difficult to commercialise. Spot gas prices at the Waha hub in West Texas went negative twice this year as a result of low demand.

Nacero said its facility, situated in the heart of the Permian shale basin in Texas, would be the first of its kind to use 100% renewable energy alongside carbon capture technology. The company has plans for a smaller 35,000 b/d gas-to-gasoline plant in Arizona.

Bechtel already has a track record in gas developments, signing engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) agreements for the Rio Grande LNG project in Texas before the start of the global pandemic.

Once the FEED is finished for Nacero, Bechtel is expected to hand over an EPC price proposal for the Texas facility. The engineering firm should be using sustainable methods that will reduce the carbon footprint during the construction phase. 

“The use of renewable natural gas and mitigated flare gas will make it possible to reduce the lifecycle footprint of Nacero's cost-competitive, zero sulphur gasoline to zero over time,” the company explained. “Nacero's products will be sold to retailers in Texas and the Southwest, and through Nacero-branded outlets.”