Transportation technologies for a global gas market

Natural gas is one of the most important energy resources and the worldwide consumption is rapidly increasing. Recently, its consumption is being accelerated because of a growing environmental concern. To satisfy such a demand for natural gas, several gas fields are under development in hostile conditions such as deep seas and Arctic areas. However, due to the status of current technologies and economic situations, many gas fields in offshore are stranded. Stranded gas reserves are those which cannot be economically transported to the consumer due to the distance from the gas field to market or the extreme water depth for laying pipelines. The estimated stranded gas reserves are above 4,500 TCF in offshore areas. The proven technology options available to the offshore sector for natural gas exploitation and transportation are extremely limited. Currently, the most popular methods of conveying natural gas to market from distant locations are through LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) and PNG (Pipelined Natural Gas) technologies. However, these technologies require considerable capital expenditure for infrastructure construction and huge proved gas reserves. Therefore, in many situations, they are not available for stranded gas transportation.