Natural Gas

Natural gas is the lowest-carbon fossil fuel, odorless, colorless and non-toxic. It has a broad range of uses across the residential, transportation, industrial and commercial sectors when converted into different forms. It is also a critical part of many industrial processesand is an important raw material in many products from paints to plastics.

Gas is the cleanest-burning fossil fuel, producing around half the carbon dioxide and just one tenth of the air pollutants that coal does when burnt to generate electricity.

LNG

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4) that has been converted to liquid form for ease of storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volume of natural gas in the gaseous state and it is odorless, colorless, non-toxic and non-corrosive.

The liquefaction process involves removal of certain components, such as dust, acid gases, helium, water, and heavy hydrocarbons, which could cause difficulty downstream.

The natural gas is then condensed into a liquid at close to atmospheric pressure by cooling it to approximately −162 °C (−260 °F); maximum transport pressure is set at around 25 kPa (4 psi).

Specially designed cryogenic sea vessels (LNG carriers) are used for its transport. LNG is principally used for transporting natural gas to markets, where it is regasified and distributed as pipeline natural gas.

LNG production is expected to hit 10% of the global crude production by 2020.

Near Shore LNG

Near Shore LNG refers to water-based liquefied natural gas operations employing technologies designed to enable the development of offshore and near shore natural gas, then processed, liquefied and stored on a floating facility that will be permanently moored close to the gas supply. The LNG will then be offloaded to a tanker and shipped directly to markets.