LNG is simply natural gas in its liquid form – the same natural gas that more than 64 million American households use every day. Four interlinked steps take the natural gas from its source deep within the earth and deliver it to U.S. consumers:
• Exploration and production
• Liquefaction
• Shipping
• Regasification
Converting natural gas to LNG provides U.S. consumers with access to safe, clean-burning energy resources worldwide.
Exploration and production
Geoscientists and engineers identify hydrocarbon deposits in underground formations. Onshore and offshore wells tap into these reservoirs and bring the gas to the Earth's surface. Once produced, natural gas flows by pipeline to treatment facilities for the removal of unwanted components.
Liquefaction
A liquefaction unit, known as an LNG "train," cools the gas to minus 260 F. At this cold temperature, the gas changes to a liquid, which occupies about 600 times less space than the gas. Natural gas that would fill a beach ball becomes LNG that can fit inside a ping-pong ball.
Tanks with extremely efficient insulation store the LNG at atmospheric pressure. LNG is odorless, colorless, noncorrosive and nontoxic.
Shipping
Specially built LNG ships can transport the LNG efficiently by sea. These double-hulled ships store the LNG safely in insulated tanks at minus 260 F during the voyage. In the U.S., the ships transfer their liquid cargoes to insulated storage tanks at terminals such as the BlueOcean Energy LNG offshore facility.
Regasification
A natural-gas-fired vaporizer on the deck of the BlueOcean Energy terminal will heat a water-glycol mixture, which in turn will warm the LNG back to its gaseous form. Then the gas will flow by pipeline to homes, businesses and power plants.
