Velocys plc, a technology innovator for smaller scale gas-to-liquids (GTL), recently announced that it has executed a commercial agreement with PTT Public Company Limited (PTT), the national energy company of Thailand and Fortune Global 100 firm, to proceed with the commercial deployment of the Company's GTL technology in Thailand and other regions.

The two companies have been collaborating since late 2009. In February 2010, under the terms of an MOU, PTT agreed to provide funding for the development and commercialisation of the Company's microchannel steam methane reforming (SMR) technology. In 2012, under the terms of a research collaboration with Velocys, previously Oxford Catalysts Group, PTT opened a new experimental facility for testing microchannel reactors at its Research Institute in Wangnoi, approximately 70km north of Bangkok, Thailand.

In this next phase of collaboration, PTT has commissioned Toyo Engineering Corporation to prepare a detailed front end engineering design (FEED) for a 100 barrel per day (bpd) GTL plant that will incorporate the Company's SMR and Fischer-Tropsch (FT) technologies. The plant will be located at one of PTT's production facilities in Thailand. The engineering study will be completed in mid-2014 and will be followed by the final investment decision and facility construction.

Roy Lipski, CEO of Velocys, said "We're delighted to be working with PTT and to be progressing with the design of this integrated GTL plant using Velocys technology. It stands to be the largest capacity modular GTL plant of its kind commissioned anywhere in the world, to date."

Pailin Chuchottaworn, President & CEO of PTT, said "Synthetic fuels are a strategic growth area for PTT. We are pleased to progress our partnership with Velocys, the leaders in smaller scale GTL."

In late September, Houston, Texas-based Pinto Energy LLC, a developer of smaller scale Gas-to-Liquids facilities, announced plans to build a 2,800 barrel per day GTL plant at its 80-acre industrial site east of in Ashtabula, Ohio, using the same technology working from Oxford Catalysts Group, now Velocys, who changed its name on September 25, 2013.