Turkmenistan Company Orders the World's Largest GTG Plant Driven by State-of-the-art Gas Liquefaction Technology

Tokyo, August 27, 2014 — Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. announced today that it has signed a contract for the world's largest gas-to-gasoline (GTG) plant with Turkmengas State Concern, Turkmenistan's state-owned gas company headquartered in Ashgabat. The contract, worth approximately 150 billion yen, will be fulfilled by a Kawasaki-led consortium with Renaissance Construction, a Turkish construction company based in Ankara. Kawasaki will be responsible for the overall project management, plant engineering, as well as equipment supply while Renaissance will be in charge of civil engineering work and assembly of the plant. The GTG plant is slated to go on line in 2018. Kawasaki won this contract with the cooperation of Sojitz Corporation.

Employing a technology developed by Haldor Topsoe, a Danish company providing chemical process technologies and catalysts, the GTG plant will produce 600,000 tons of high quality gasoline from natural gas annually. The plant will be constructed in Ovadan-Depe, located in the north of Turkmenistan's capital, Ashgabat.

While gas liquefaction technology has already been put into practical use in some natural gas producing countries, this latest technology used in the GTG plant allows for the efficient production of gasoline from natural gas and hence simplifies the gasoline refining process. Unlike the conventional crude oil-based approach, use of natural gas as a raw material enables the GTG plant to produce high quality gasoline while minimizing greenhouse gas emissions. That is why the gas liquefaction technology will draw more attention in countries that have natural gas and shale gas resources.

Countries rich in natural resources like Turkmenistan in Central Asia are growing quickly as indicated by their high GDP growth rates. These countries have high hopes for GTG plants as a solution that will help them effectively use natural gas and achieve sustainable development. Demand is expected to remain high in Turkmenistan where facilities on the same scale as this latest project are currently being planned.

Kawasaki will harness the know-how it has gained through its overseas natural gas-related businesses to aggressively expand GTG plant operations like this one, as well as LNG storage facility and related operations.