Cerilon announced today that it has successfully completed FrontEnd-Loading (FEL 2) for its gas-to-liquids (GTL) facility in North Dakota and is moving into Front-End Engineering Design (FEED), the last stage before the company makes a Final Investment Decision (FID) for its foundational GTL project.

“Our progress has been enabled by the proven capabilities of our team and partnerships,” said Nico Duursema, CEO of Cerilon. “The positive momentum we’ve achieved on the project thus far supports the delivery of this and future projects. All of this aligns with our long-term vision to provide energy transition at scale for the benefit of industry, communities and the environment.”

Cerilon GTL North Dakota the first project of its kind

Cerilon is developing an innovative GTL facility that will transform natural gas into unique, high performance synthetic products. These products include industry-leading Group III+ base oils, ultra-low sulfur diesel and naphtha. The company has established global partnerships to deliver this foundational GTL facility, which will be followed by replicated GTL facilities.

This facility, the first large-scale, natural gas-fed GTL facility in North America, will also feature carbon capture and sequestration, making this nominally 24,000 barrel-per-day facility the first of its kind in the world. Cerilon has selected a site near Trenton, North Dakota for its first location and is seeking regulatory approvals for this facility and a phase two facility of similar capacity on the same site. Cerilon
has submitted all major permit applications and anticipates that these regulatory reviews will be complete by the end of 2024.

Risk further mitigated and schedule confirmed for project start-up in 2028

During the FEL 2 engineering stage, important de-risking actions and decisions were taken that improved accuracy of the project schedule and cost estimates. Worley was selected to complete the project’s FEL 3 FEED scope, which will include smart manufacturing operations design and the digital integration. A final investment decision is expected in mid-2026 with construction on the first facility to commence shortly thereafter for project start-up in 2028. The facility will be fully operational in 2029.

Positive momentum

Cerilon has built positive momentum over the past 14 months by progressing Cerilon GTL North Dakota and laying the groundwork for accelerated future company growth. These advancements include selecting world-class partners and finalizing agreements with leading technology licensors. The company also continues to progress commercial and financing agreements.