What is LNG and why does it need such expensive plants?
Liquefied natural gas is gas cooled to about minus 162 °C so it shrinks roughly 600 times and fits on a ship.
Natural gas takes up a huge volume. Moving it across an ocean in gas form would be pointless, so exporters chill it until it turns liquid. At about minus 162 °C it occupies around one six-hundredth of its original space.
The chilling happens in liquefaction units called trains, which are among the most expensive industrial plants in the world. The liquid travels in insulated tankers to an import terminal, where it is warmed back into gas and fed into the local pipeline network. Some importers skip the onshore terminal and moor a floating storage and regasification unit, an FSRU, which can be in service within a year or two.
Because the plants cost so much, most LNG is sold under contracts lasting 15 or 20 years before construction starts. Only the remainder trades on the spot market, which is why spot prices swing so sharply in a cold winter.
- Temperature
- About minus 162 °C
- Volume reduction
- Around 600 to 1
Explainers describe how things generally work. They are not advice for a specific project or country. See our editorial policy.