Liquefied Natural Gas in the oil & gas industry

Natural gas is normally transported over long distances in high pressure transmission pipelines. Where this is not possible for political, technical or economic reasons, the gas has to be transported by ship. To maximize the transport capacity, natural gas is cooled down to approximately -162°C, at which temperature methane, the main constituent, condenses to a liquid (at atmospheric pressure). As a liquid, the occupied volume is reduced 600 times compared to its gaseous volume at normal atmospheric conditions. Some LNG vapourizes during transport, and this is often used as a fuel for the ship: so accurate custody transfer flowmeters are used on all loading and unloading operations.