Small Scale LNG: Is this the future for the LNG Business
There is tremendous growth and innovation in the small-scale LNG business which probably now amounts to some 50mtpa of LNG consumption. Producing LNG is a great way to monetise stranded gas reserves and flared associated gas since it becomes the starting point of a virtual pipeline which allows LNG to be transported by road, rail or sea to a variety of destinations to be used as fuel for power generation or as a transportation fuel.
LNG is now widely used as a fuel for heavy trucks, but the greatest potential probably lies with the development of LNG as a fuel for marine transportation. There are already more than 100 ships using LNG as fuel and the bunkering of large ships from small LNG carriers is a practice now well developed in Europe.
This paper will review the technologies being developed for ssLNG production and several of the very innovative ways in which LNG is now being transported and used as fuel for power and transportation.