Shell Restarts Part of Pearl Plant in Qatar for Testing

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On October 8, Shell partially restarted the Pearl gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant in Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar, beginning operational testing of production facilities and gradually building a small inventory of products. The plant has a full-capacity production capability of 140,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, and one of its two production lines was damaged after an attack in March this year. Shell expects the damaged Train 2 to be fully repaired by the first quarter of 2027.

The Pearl plant is wholly owned by Shell and uses natural gas from Qatar's North Field as feedstock to produce liquid products including diesel, kerosene, naphtha, and lubricant base oils. Part of the plant's output feeds into Shell's downstream supply chain, including its lubricants business. The attack on March 18, 2026 damaged Train 2, while Train 1 was not damaged. Shell published a preliminary damage assessment on March 20, at which time it estimated that full repair of the damaged production line would take about one year.

This restart is mainly for testing production facilities and gradually restoring product storage. Shell has not yet disclosed the actual daily output after resuming operations. The company said whether the facilities can maintain safe and stable operations and whether products can be shipped normally still depends on the regional security situation, including conditions for transport vessels to pass safely through the Strait of Hormuz.

Meanwhile, QatarEnergy has again offered naphtha cargoes containing Pearl plant products to the spot market and resumed contractual deliveries to some buyers. Traders said QatarEnergy recently launched a spot tender for up to 50,000 tons of naphtha, covering four grades including Pearl GTL products, on a free-on-board (FOB) basis at Ras Laffan Port.

In a previous round of naphtha tenders that included Pearl products, the traded price was at a discount of $150 per ton to the Middle East benchmark quotation. India's Haldia Petrochemicals has received about 50,000 tons of naphtha under this quarter's contract.