Is the transportation of Liquefied Natural Gas sustainable and safe?
The panel discussed where LNG comes from, how it is transported and the amount of energy used to process it. There was a discussion about which country accounts for the C02 emitted during LNG production – the one where the gas is produced or the one which actually uses the gas? LNG tends to come from gas deposits under the ground near coastlines, places such as South East Asia, the Middle East, Australia and Norway. One of the key benefits of LNG is that it allows access to gas that otherwise would be stranded with no access to gas grids. However, LNG is fairly energy intensive in production. It has a higher calorific value than piped natural gas and therefore it has to be blended with nitrogen. Nitrogen production is very energy intensive. The panel felt that shipping LNG was quite an efficient way of moving it around. Bulk sea transport is an efficient way of moving goods and the LNG tankers use there cargo to power the ship. LNG is a much cleaner fuel than standard ship bunker fuel.
