Liquified Natural Gas

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What is Liquified Natural Gas or LNG?

• LNG is natural gas reduced to a liquid state (liquefaction) through intense cooling to around -161 degrees Celsius (-259 Fahrenheit). 
• This liquid gas is 600 times smaller than the original volume and is half the weight of water.
• LNG is odourless, colourless, non-toxic and non-corrosive. Hazards include flammability after vaporisation into a gaseous state, freezing and asphyxia. 
• 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) (gauge pressure), which is about one-fourth times atmospheric pressure at sea level.
• The compressed fossil fuel, which is constituted almost wholly of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, can be transported around the world by ship. 
• After arriving at its destination, the cargo is regasified in a floating terminal and redistributed through pipelines.
• But despite LNG’s export potential, the high cost of liquefaction and producing LNG has limited its market. 

Its impact on climate change-

• A lot of energy is required to extract natural gas from a reservoir, to transport from the gas field to the LNG facility for processing.
• The cooling, liquefying and transport processes, as well as the post-transport regasification procedures, also require a lot of energy. 
• Between 10-25% of the energy of the gas is being lost during the liquefaction process.
• Methane loss across the supply chain risks also contributes to LNG’s high emissions. 
• In the end, LNG emits about twice as much greenhouse gas as ordinary natural gas. 
• Processing LNG is so energy- and carbon-intensive that it can create almost 10 times more carbon emissions than piped gas. 

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