Sydney, Feb 4, 2008 (ABN Newswire) - The recent launch of Airbus' alternative fuel research programme with a successful three-hour test flight powered by gas-to-liquids (GTL) jet fuel bodes well for GTL plans in general and for Central Petroleum Limited's planned GTL project in central Australia.
On 1 February 2008, an Airbus 380 flew from Filton, UK, to Toulouse, France, powered by GTL jet fuel supplied by Shell. The test flight was the result of an agreement signed last November between Qatar Airways, Qatar Petroleum, Qatar Fuels, Qatar Science and Technology Park, Rolls Royce and Shell International Petroleum Company to research the benefits of synthetic jet fuel processed from gas.
According to an Airbus statement, "GTL has attractive characteristics for local air quality, as well as some benefits in terms of aircraft fuel burn relative to existing jet fuel. For instance, it is virtually free of sulphur. Synthetic fuel can be made from a range of hydrocarbon source material including natural gas or organic plant matter."
"GTL could be available at certain locations to make it a practical and viable drop-in alternative fuel for commercial aviation in the short term," Airbus added.
Central is currently exploring for conventionally reservoired oil, gas and helium targets, as well as coal bed methane (CBM) in the Pedirka, Amadeus and southern Georgina basins. According to the Northern Territory Geological Survey department, the Amadeus basin alone could host up to 35 trillion cubic feet of gas in potential resources. In addition, independent reports have cited prospective recoverable resources of 34 Tcf to 70 Tcf of CBM in Central's Pedirka basin permits.
In the event of a major gas discovery or discoveries providing a critical reserve base, Central plans a GTL plant to produce ultra-clean jet fuel, diesel and naphtha for the domestic and/or overseas markets.
In December, the United States Air Force conducted the first ever transcontinental flight of a large aircraft - a C17 - on a synthetic (GTL) fuel. The flight followed successful tests of the fuel blend in C-17 engines in October, and was the next step in the Air Force's effort to have its entire C-17 fleet certified to use the mixture. Air Force officials certified B-52 Stratotankers to use the mixture in August, and hope to certify the fuel blend for use in all its aircraft within the next five years. The United States Air Force has ordered that all of its aircraft be certified to use GTL fuels by 2010 and has recently announced plans to source at least 70% of its jet fuel from GTL by the year 2025.
Useful web references are :
http://www.ausairpower.net/APA-USAF-SynFuels.html
http://biopact.com/2008/02/a380-test-flight-on-gtl-fuel-kicks-off.html
About Central Petroleum Limited
Central Petroleum Limited (
ASX:CTP) is a well-established, and emerging ASX-listed Australian oil and gas producer. In our short history, Central has grown to become the largest onshore gas producer in the Northern Territory (NT), supplying industrial customers and senior gas distributors in NT and the wider Australian east coast market.
Central is positioned to become a significant domestic energy supplier, with exploration and development plans across 180,000 km2 of tenements in Queensland and the Northern Territory, including some of Australia's largest known onshore conventional gas prospects. Central has also completed an MoU with Australian Gas Infrastructure Group (AGIG) to progress the proposed Amadeus to Moomba Gas Pipeline to a Final Investment Decision.
We are also seeking to develop the Range gas project, a new gas field located among proven CSG fields in the Surat Basin, Queensland with 135 PJ (net to Central) of development-pending 2C contingent resource.
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