Synfuels will play a large role in supplementing fuels from crude oil with crude oil prices above $35 per barrel long term.
Synfuels are very capital intensive. Velocys claim on page 24 of the linked pdf file:
90% size reduction
33% capital expenditure reduction
100% increase in profit margin.
If Velocys can scale microchannel synfuel reactors from laboratory scale, they could have a significant impact in making Synfuels less capital intensive & thus less expensive.
Velocys see 2 main markets:
Mega Scale - GTL CTL
Distributed - BTL & WTL (Waste to Liquid)

This press release refers to Mega Scale GTL on a ship, made possible by the 90% reduction in plant size.

Velocys also plan distributed Microchannel FT reactors transportable in containers, so might enable Waste To Liquid using on site crop wastes of the great plains, forestry waste & municipal waste.

Also, small Microchannel reactors might enable distributed Biomass To Liquids plants fed by mixed prairie grasses.

How will this total process reduce or increase GHG/Km over current fossil fuel ICE vehicles?

Is this, more or less, a way to extend the use of our high pollution ICE liquid fossil fuel gas guzzlers another 50-70 years?

Could this gas be economically transformed into clean electricity, with large fuel cells or NG power plants, (on-board the mother ship or platform) and be transported to nearby shore power grid via undersea power cables?

Sort of overlapping with what Roger is saying, it seems the goal is mostly to be able to deliver energy in the future via our existing petroleum infrastructure (e.g., pipelines and liquid ICE's) rather than energy efficient conversion. Synthetic fuels must have the capacity to be somewhat cleaner than diesel or coal to liquids, as there are (I think) no sulfurs and heavy metals and whatnot, but they are going to add carbon; and extending the life of fossil fuels is unfortunate from an environmental perspective.

were is this stranded gas? Its a myth, Siberia apart any gas that can be made into GTL can be made into LNG and sold into booming world markets. If you can name a stranded gas field, I can guarantee an LNG producer will be looking at it!!

GTL is crazy when you take into account the energy and CO2 cost of making it. The Shell Qatar GTL plant will produce an extra amount of CO2 equal to the savings from all Europe's biodiesel plants by 2010!

All other possible GTL plants have been cancelled - Exxon, Algeria etc....

I forgot to add - BTL gives CO2 neutral liquid fuel from basically useless trash. And if you can get cheap labor to collect it, you are set! I think it is going to move that way - biomass collection in poor countries and transport to BTL plants elsewere.

Use of this GTL process and equipment works well for 'stranded' natural gas deposits (no nearby pipeline) and for natural gas that is seperated from oil wells at sea (currently burned for safety - flared). This makes a lot of sense for a country like Japan that has to import all of its transportation fuel. They will have a way to produce a relatively clean gasoline and diesel fuel independent of the oil market. The real push by Japan is likely to be to use this process to make liquid fuel from deep sea methane hydrate deposits. The Japanese government has been working on ways to harvest the huge amount of methane that is available in unclaimed deep sea deposits.

To Paul:

Yes, this is essentially how I see it too. A medium scale FT plant at the location that produces only FT liquids. They are then shipped to an overseas refinery. But this FT crude plant has to be located where somebody can collect and bring biomass over to it because the collection of biomass is hand labor.

"use this process to make liquid fuel from deep sea methane hydrate deposits"

They should use the methane to supply their cities with NG.