Gas-to-liquids plant near Pine Bluff moves forward with million-dollar contract

GTL Americas (GTLA), a commercial scale natural gas-to-liquids project in Arkansas, is moving forward with engineering and environmental work for its 1,800 acre, multi-billion dollar site near Pine Bluff.

The company announced Tuesday (Sept. 14) it has contracted with Geotechnology, LLC. Under the contract, valued between $500,000 to $1 million, the professional engineering and environmental services company will perform soil and seismic testing on its planned site by the end of this year.

“GTLA is pushing forward with our Jefferson County Project despite the minor disruptions caused during the COVID-19 global pandemic,” said Leon Codron, president of GTL Americas.

“The GTLA project has the support of 18 full-time employees and 24 consultants under contract in the areas of technology, engineering, construction, environment and permitting, commercial banking, and financing. We are thrilled to have added experienced engineers to our staff who have been involved in similar facilities around the world join us on-site in Jefferson County. The number of full-time employees is expected to double over the next year,” Codron added.

GTLA is currently in phase one of the development of its production facility, previously pegged at more than $3.5 billion. Once complete, the plant will convert domestic natural gas into 1.7 million gallons of clean transportation fuels per day.

The company said the Jefferson County project will support more than 3,000 construction jobs and 200 permanent jobs.

GTLA has planned two additional phases, each expected to produce an additional 1.7 million gallons of clean fuels.

“For more than 35 years, we have proudly supported large-scale construction projects across the Midwest and Mid-South,” said Pat Donovan, president of Geotechnology. “This contract will allow us to further showcase our geotechnical and geophysical expertise for deep foundation testing.”