The Pearl plant is expected to begin making and shipping base stocks as early as August 2011. Expected to have 28,800 barrels per day capacity when completed, the base oil plant includes two identical trains, and Shell has said the second train will open next year. The plant will produce 4 and 8 centiStoke Group III base oil and a 3 cSt Group II.

Its going to help us be able to come out with really good products in regard to low viscosity, low volatility, high fuel efficiency, lower emissions and better wear protection, Ferner said at the Tech Day event, referring to the GTL Group III base oil. Its fully competitive with other premium products. Its just starting to ramp up in Qatar right now.

Ferner confirmed that during the Qatar plants startup, all of the GTL base stocks will be used in Shells own branded products. And then over the course of time, well see where things line out, and see how the strategy should be set, he added.

Michelle Herskowitz, communications manager for Shell Lubricants Americas, noted discussions were ongoing on how best to market products made with GTL base stocks. If you look at the way we do things, we dont break out additives and base oils, she told the briefing. So theres certainly a line of thinking this should not be any different. We all recognize the opportunity to share it, as well. Its not finalized, and you will be hearing from us on how we plan to present it to the marketplace.

Ferner noted Shell will likely emphasize the benefits of its GTL, which he said provides a very consistent, high quality base for lubricant formulations. A lot of attributes that come from it are not going to be just from the base oil, but how were going to be able to balance the whole formulation together, he explained. So I dont think youre going to see anything that says GTL alone provides this [advantage] – its going to be the fact weve got these new formulations containing GTL that have these really great attributes.

He noted that synthetic base stocks – GTL in particular – provide very good volatility. Im talking about the hot spots in the engine where it can reach 400 to 600 degrees Fahrenheit, he explained. Thats enough to start to boil away or evaporate some of the lubricant molecules, where they go out the exhaust system. As they go out the exhaust system, they leave coatings on the exhaust aftertreatment, and can start to impair fuel efficiency and emission controls. Using synthetic products and in particular the Group III GTL, gives us the ability to control that.

The products also excel at cold crank viscosity, he said. The synthetics, and again in particular the GTL base stocks, are extremely good at that, Fern added. They are very consistent in viscosity across different temperatures.

So it gives us the ability to not worry too much about building in other additives to be able to deal with volatility and cold crank, he continued. It gives us the ability to focus in on what we need to. Which means we dont have to have as many things to balance into the overall formulation.