Indiantelevision.com Team

(9 February 2008 3:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Shell has launched the latest dramatised film in its global brand campaign, focusing on the contribution that Shell’s Gas to Liquids (GTL) technology can make towards cleaner air in cities where air pollution from traffic is a chronic problem.

The new film Clearing the Air dramatises the true story of the development of GTL technology from a laboratory technique to a global scale innovation, compressing about 30 years into a 7-minute film.

Shell was one of the first companies to produce "zero-sulphur" diesel on a commercial scale, phase out lead from road transport fuel in refineries, develop additives to help engines work more efficiently, and has consistently been an industry leader in developing and commercialising a new generation of fossil fuels.

The challenge of increasing mobility is to ensure that the impact of transport on air pollution, climate change and society is limited, and ideally, reduced. This requires energy companies, governments and automotive manufacturers to work together.

The storyline of the docudrama focuses on the journeys of two Shell interns both of whom want to make a difference in the world but take different paths – one continuing to work as a chemist with Shell, the other choosing a different career. The female protagonist represents the voice of Shell’s stakeholders and challenges the chemist to show that he has stayed true to his youthful convictions.

The film shows how the persistence and creative problem-solving of Shell’s team perfected the technology for clean-burning GTL fuel that produces significantly lower levels of black smoke and particulates, nitrogen oxides and other local emissions than conventional refinery diesel fuel.

In perfecting the technology, they had to overcome many challenges. The GTL plant in Southeast Asia had to be shut down temporarily after forest fires caused a disruption, nearly bringing the entire project to a halt. But GTL fuel was delivered to Athens in time for the 2004 Olympics.

This film is the second in a series of advertisements, demonstrating the contribution that the people at Shell are making to a responsible energy future by solving some of today’s most complex technical challenges in the energy market.

The campaign commences in February in global media and the UK, the Netherlands and Germany, followed by other markets in March. The film will be shown online, in select cinemas in some countries, and will be distributed through publications, with shorter versions of the film for television. The campaign also features innovative print advertising.

There will be a significant digital advertising presence linked to a new interactive website, www.shell.com/realenergy, where visitors can watch the film, see the press advertisments and learn more about the new technologies that Shell is developing to help tackle today’s energy issues.