ROYCEO

Where natural gas pipelines are not feasible or do not exist, liquefying natural gas is a way to move natural gas from producing regions to markets, such as to and from the United States and other countries. Asian countries, combined, account for the largest share of global LNG imports.

LNG export facilities receive natural gas by pipeline and liquefy the gas for transport on special ocean-going LNG ships, ortankers. Most LNG is transported by tankers calledLNG carriersin large, onboard, super-cooled (cryogenic) tanks. LNG is also transported in smaller International Organization for Standardization (ISO)-compliant containers that can be placed on ships and on trucks.

At import terminals, LNG is offloaded from ships and is stored in cryogenic storage tanks before it is returned to its gaseous state, orregasified. After regasification, the natural gas is transported by natural gas pipelines to natural gas-fired power plants, industrial facilities, and residential and commercial customers.