Marine Transportation of Compressed Natural Gas A Viable Alternative to Pipeline or LNG

摘要

The invention of the “Coselle” pressure vessel by Cran & Stenning of Calgary, Alberta, Canada and the development of the Coselle Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Carrier promises to improve the economics of shipping natural gas over short sea routes, and from modest reserves. This invention also ignited renewed interest in CNG marine transportation and a few other concepts entered the scene: Enerseas’ VOTRANS and TransCanada’s GTM. The general promise from all these CNG concepts is to economically explore modest reserves in moderate daily volumes over shorter transportation distances, thus unlocking reserves which would remain stranded where either pipeline or LNG are considered. This paper provides an overview of current CNG technologies, compares those to pipeline and LNG and provides general insight regarding the commercialization of this concept.