05.07.2009

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas that has been liquefied by reducing its temperature to -260 Fahrenheit or -161 degrees Celsius at atmospheric pressure. This liquefaction process reduces the volume of the gas by about 600 times from its original size, making it safe, easy, and efficient to transport, store, regasify and then supply to meet consumers growing need for low emission energy. The main feature of the LNG market in both USA and Europe is that it is still contract based so the actual details of pricing terms are hard to discover. Most contract prices are still oil linked but some of the spot deals are probably linked more to spot market prices. Shipping LNG from Qatar to ports in the US (a journey of about 43 days) costs $2.09 mmbtu, and the journey from Egypt to the US (30 days) costs $1.29 mmbtu. Qatar is the largest exporter of LNG after having completed its second gasification facility at an investment of $13.2 billion in 2009<br />

Liquefying agent

The actual amount of gas in a pipeline or distribution system. The placing daily gas imbalance (unsold gas) into a cumulative imbalance for sale at a later time. As gas is transported along a pipeline, its pressure falls due to friction in the pipe, and also as gas is taken off at various points. To compensate, compressor stations are built at strategic points, which lift the pressure back up. This helps transport larger amounts than would otherwise be possible. At times of low demand, this pressure can be raised, and then allowed to fall gradually during high demand, when the flow is greater. This is called “linepack storage”, and is utilized mainly within the higher pressure pipelines used to transmit gas throughout the country.

A 50-mile (80 km)section of 42-inch transmission line operating at about 1,000 pounds of pressure contains about 200 million cubic feet of gas

The term usually applied to longer transient spikes, although correctly applies to transients of any length that are carried to a device by electrical power lines