Moscow innovators work to turn gas into synthetic crude

Moscow-based Gazokhim Techno is pushing its project aimed at reprocessing natural gas into syncrude; new partners join the international effort.

Moscow-based Gazokhim Techno is pushing its project aimed at reprocessing natural gas into what is known in the oil industry as syncrude, or synthetic crude oil, and is considering building its ?mini-GTL? innovation low-sized reprocessing unit later this year already, reports Rusenergy.com, a Russian website covering oil sector news. The mini-GTL is a joint project between Gazokhim Techno and British-American Oxford Catalysts Group, a global expert in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and microchannel technology. An agreement has been inked between the two companies on cooperation in the Russian and former Soviet Union markets. In February 2013, the Skolkovo Foundation reported that Alltech, a Russian industrial group, had joined the project and took it upon itself to provide ?a considerable share of funding and key expertise in building businesses in the oil and gas sector and gas chemistry, as well as in marketing and innovation management...