Qatar's pioneering plant to convert natural gas to liquid fuels operated by Sasol of South Africa will continue to run at well below full capacity until the second half of this year at the earliest. The technical problems that have dogged the Oryx project, which opened last year, are further evidence of the challenges in commercialising gas-to-liquids (GTL) technology. That technology is being touted by some oil companies as an important source of future fuel supplies.