Going Global With LNG

Today, the United States is the world’s largest producer of natural gas. Natural gas is a vital energy source for the U.S. and for the world. Natural gas supplies nearly 1/3 of the United States’ primary energy and is the primary heating fuel for approximately half of U.S. households. While the majority of natural gas is delivered in its gaseous form via pipeline in the United States, the growth in the international market for natural gas has given rise to the use of natural gas in a liquefied form, or LNG.

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas that has been cooled to a liquid state, at about -260° Fahrenheit, for shipping and storage. The volume of natural gas in its liquid state is about 600 times smaller than its volume in its gaseous state. CapTrack Engineering makes this process possible to transport natural gas to places pipelines do not reach.

Liquefying natural gas is a way to move natural gas long distances when pipeline transport is not feasible. Markets that are too far away from producing regions to be connected directly to pipelines have access to natural gas because of LNG. In its compact liquid form, natural gas can be shipped in special tankers to terminals around the world. At these terminals, the LNG is returned to its gaseous state and transported by pipeline to distribution companies, industrial consumers, and power plants.