CANBERRA: Natural gas is conventionally transferred via pipelines. However, offshore pipelines are less viable than onshore and are thus generally limited to short to medium distances.
Numerous maritime countries such as Japan, Australia and Indonesia have no direct pipelines connecting them to their natural gas trading partners. To transport natural gas across water it undergoes a process known as cryogenic liquefaction.
This creates LNG and reduces the volume of gas to one 600th of its original volume, making it feasible to transport the LNG in a specialised LNG carrier. After the LNG is transported it can be regasified at an on-shore or off-shore regasification terminal, stored for regasification at a later date.
LNG is carried aboard vessels using containment systems that insulate the LNG. The oldest LNG carrying technology still used in new vessel construction is the Moss-Rosenberg (commonly known as Moss) containment system.
The second type of large-scale LNG carrying technology is the membrane technology: the GTT No.96, the T Mark-III and its upgrade Mark III Flex. Instead of a spherical insulated ball – used in the Moss system – the membrane is fitted to the inside of the ship’s hull. Small-scale carriers, those with carrying capacity less than 50,000 cubic meters, use different technologies.
Three countries are currently constructing large-scale LNG carriers: Japan, South Korea and China. The LNG carrier market is closely linked with liquefaction capacity.
The main exporting regions of LNG are North America, Africa, Qatar and Australia, while the main importers are from East Asia, primarily Japan and South Korea. The US will also start exporting LNG within the next two years due to the increasing quantities of shale gas being produced.
The growth of the LNG market, and consequently the demand of LNG carriers, will greatly depend on the expected Chinese growth in gas demand that will be partially satisfied by LNG imports.
China’s policy is to construct the carriers domestically to deliver this LNG. This will lead to increased market shares for Hudong Zonghua, the only Chinese shipbuilder currently producing LNG vessels, and the GTT No 96 system, which is the only system used by Hudong Zhonghua.
Considering the deliveries of LNG carriers currently on order and prospected new orders to meet liquefaction additions, Visiongain values the global LNG carrier market at $7.45bn in 2015.
