Good Ole Boys and Drip Gas: Qatar Goes Shopping For Fuel

Qatar Airways is reportedly talking to Royal Dutch Shell and engine manufacturers about using a form of diesel fuel known as GTL-gas to liquid. Seems they're sitting on top of a lot of natural gas and it seems logical enough.

It kinda reminds me of a guy I used to know who'd grown up in Oklahoma in pipeline country. One night we were talking about life as kids and he said he'd never had to pay for gasoline as a kid because he'd run his truck on drip gas. That was the light fraction of petroleum that condenses out of natural gas in low spots in gas pipelines. You can run a car on it as long as it's not too finicky-which describes a six cylinder Chevrolet pickup pretty well.

The folks who have natural gas production also use chillers to sweat out any likely looking fluids from wellhead gas before it's moved on, so this seems like a pretty good idea for Qatar.