LNG - Canadian Developments
Erin Michael O'Toole
When it is cooled to -130°C, natural gas becomes a liquid and occupies six hundred times less space than it does in its gaseous form. Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is rapidly becoming an important part of the North American energy supply mix, particularly as domestic supplies of natural gas near exhaustion and demand continues to increase. Currently, LNG is the source for only about 6% of the global consumption of natural gas, but this percentage is expected to rise to 11% by 2010 and to more than 20% by 2020.
LNG will be imported into North America from the Persian Gulf region, Russia, Indonesia and parts of Africa. Source countries generally have large gas reserves and relatively slight domestic demand. The gas is liquefied and transferred to ships large enough to carry LNG to supply fourteen million homes with a day's supply of natural gas. Countries receiving LNG will require large port facilities, as well as branch pipeline and re-gasification plant infrastructure to transform the LNG back into natural gas and to transmit the gas to market.
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