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As Price Spread Sails Over $15/MMBtu, Natural Gas Conversion Projects Proliferate, Zeus Finds

HOUSTON, TX — (Marketwire) — 01/18/12 — Energy analyst Zeus Development Corporation reports that entrepreneurs in North America are beginning to make the most of the wide spread between natural gas and petroleum prices by establishing new plants to convert gas into high value products.

Zeus will host two back-to-back seminars March 6 and 7 to discuss the best locations in North America where plants can be constructed to access lowest cost gas, abundant labor, ample pipeline infrastructure and ready markets. Among the topics to be addressed are advanced technologies to convert methane and ethane into premium products like diesel, gasoline and plastics. Executives from Sasol, Black & Veatch, McKinsey & Company, among others will review the locations and markets where developers can site new facilities.

“Converting low cost gas into high-value products, especially those that can compete with refined petroleum, is becoming the trade of this decade,” said Bob Nimocks, president of Zeus. “Gas prices are expected to stay low due to our domestic abundance, but prices for oil and refined products remain highly volatile over instability in the Middle East.”

On March 6, participants at the Houston meeting will identify and review locations in North America where gas will be cheapest, labor and infrastructure abundant, and communities motivated to build new infrastructure. Among the speakers are Ed Schneider, associate principal, and Mike Juden, senior expert at McKinsey & Company, who will discuss the dynamics of production, current and future pipeline/infrastructure capacity, gas market development and global competition.

On March 7, Mark Schnell, director, new business development for Sasol will discuss prospects for gas to liquids (GTL) in North America. Last year, Sasol announced plans in Southwest Louisiana for the United States– first large-scale GTL project. The facility is projected to create about 5,000 jobs.

“We are witnessing the early stages of what might be called the great gasification of North America,” said Nimocks. “It–s an engineer–s dream as our economy works to reach energy independence on the back of natural gas. The winners will be those who can establish and scale up the plants to produce high-value goods. These are exciting times.”

More information and registration can be obtained online at .

Contact:
Sally DeWitt

(713) 952-9500

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