[SoothSayer]

Natural gas fields decline VERY rapidly and unpredictably.

This means that within a year or two Europe may suddenly need a lot of LNG to replace North Sea gas.

I can imagine LNG becoming a KEY resource for MANY countries over the next 5 years.

So where will it come from, what will carry it, how will the importers handle it?

How much will it cost?

Will it be on the spot market or on long term contracts?

Does Europe have enough buffer storage to bridge cold snaps in winter?

With Qatar's moratorium on new supply deals, I strongly suspect that there will be a LNG supply crunch - and very high prices real soon now.

I would be especially interested to see a summary of what long term supply contracts to the West are already in place ... and which countries do NOT have contracts yet.

I bet some major countries have left it too late ...

I also suspect that political pressure in times of shortage might lead to unprepared countries DEMANDING gas supplies from neighbours who had the foresight to obtain stocks.

(Hasn't Germany already reminded gas supplier Norway about what happened in WW2?)

[pea-jay]

Plus now there is the disruption factor on the receiving country. Currently, gas production is widely distributed and no well or company accounting more than a fraction of the total production. LNG changes this. Now you potentially could have whole facilities disrupted by natural disasters which could take 2-4 BCF/d offline VERY quickly. A policy that encourages CA to derive 20-30% of their gas from LNG from terminals in and around southern CA coast would leave the state vulnerable to a 20-30% curtailment of the gas supplies in the event of a major earthquake.

Ditto for a gulf hurricane on GOM LNG facilities. Its kinda like putting all your eggs in one basket.

There are so many issues about LNG its mindboggling why anyone other than Japan, Korea and Taiwan are pursuing this option. (Those are the only countries with a long history of LNG trade with Long term contracts to show for it)

[bruin]

I've always wondered what an LNG ship looks like:








What a disaster if something this large had a problem. Just like oil tankers, eventually one of these things will fail.

[lateStarter]

I think it would be more effective if you found a photo with something in the foreground that could help us appreciate the scale. And they are already having 'minor' leaking problems with some of the most recently built ones from what I last remember...

[NEOPO]

behold the future of natural gas in north america!!

I am sure you will see many more of these creatures flocking along the cali coast in schools near feeding centers as well as out at sea in their natural habitat alone or in pairs
Join me! Jacque Neopo as we discover the................

[canis_lupus]

Some notes -

It's empty -- you can tell by how high it is out of the water and you can see the propeller (screw).

For perspective, look at the bridge windows. The are three feet by five or six feet.

It is pretty evident how bad an NG boom would be...

[bruin]

[rogerhb]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lateStarter', 'I') think it would be more effective if you found a photo with something in the foreground that could help us appreciate the scale.

[lateStarter]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rogerhb', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lateStarter', 'I') think it would be more effective if you found a photo with something in the foreground that could help us appreciate the scale.

[ClubOfRomeII]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('NEOPO', 'b')ehold the future of natural gas in north america!!

[PeakOiler]

So my question is, where does the "boil-off" of that cryogenic gas vent? How much boil-off is experienced during shipping that cryogenic fuel? To the atmosphere? Have the engineers designed the LNG tankers to capture or convert the boil-off NG via fuel cells to supply any electricity on that ship?

How about using the boil-off LNG to provide power to the props? Is there a "hybrid version"? The latest German subs are fuel-cell powered, btw.

And if that design works, then we're just one more step closer to shipping liquid H2.

Never mind.
Just a brief optimistic thought...

[mrobert]

That's sick

[Andy]

I think LNG tankers use the boil off for propulsion either via steam turbines or gas-diesel engines (diesel engines run on natural gas but using pilot diesel injection) Some newer ones are equipped with onboard cryo units to reliquefy the boil off and preservve product for maximum payload.

[rogerhb]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lateStarter', 'I') still think a USN destroyer in the foreground would be more effective at helping the rest of us feeble folks (who have a problem extrapolating from a 3x6 brdige window to what the real size is) appreciate what is being shown... It's like showing someone a picture of the Grand Canyon...

[mrobert]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rogerhb', '
')Wouldn't an Iranian suicide speed-boat be better for comparison?

[Niagara]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mrobert', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rogerhb', '
')Wouldn't an Iranian suicide speed-boat be better for comparison?

[mrobert]

Syriana was an awesome movie

[ChumpusRex2]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PeakOiler', 'S')o my question is, where does the "boil-off" of that cryogenic gas vent? How much boil-off is experienced during shipping that cryogenic fuel? To the atmosphere? Have the engineers designed the LNG tankers to capture or convert the boil-off NG via fuel cells to supply any electricity on that ship?

[nemo]

I once sailed with a seawoman from Finland who told a tale about a perilous voyage on a gas transport. As I remember it, she described a problem with the refrigeration, resulting in gas boil-off. A smoking ban ensued, resulting in a scared, nicotine-starved crew (most seamen smoke in my experiece). To make matters even worse, they had some problems with ice build-up that had to be carefully chipped away with copper hammers due to the risk of sparks.

I honestly can't say I'd mind seeing one of them things go boom from a safe distance though...

[Aedo]

As I understand it LNG doesn't go boom. There is a chance it would catch fire and burn but it wouldn't explode (as a BLEVE) as it is cryogenic rather than pressurised storage.