Natural gas supply shortfalls are forecasted for the next decadein the U.S. and certain other markets worldwide. Most ongoingefforts to address these shortfalls, such as LNG enhancementsand the transition of GTL science from the laboratory tothe field, require low gas prices and huge volumes to generateadequate economic returns, and thus have necessitated thetargeting of large and remote sources.The marine transport of compressed natural gas(CNG) represents a different approach to the delivery challenge,and recent breakthroughs in technology are providingCNG with the ability to cost effectively ship much larger volumesof gas over greater distances. Thus, CNG is expected tohelp economically access moderately sized resources (typically1-5 Tcf) with greater scalability and flexibility whilelowering overall capital requirements. Adding to CNG’s attractivenessare the modest fixed infrastructure investmentsneeded at the production and market delivery points, and ahigh degree of security through the use of offshore loadingand offloading operations.
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