natural gas

Natural gas is one of the world’s cleanest conventional fuels. It is also increasingly important as a fuel for power stations that generate electricity. Not surprisingly, global demand is rising fast.

The challenge is that the world’s largest gas fields are thousands of miles away from the markets where demand is most pressing.The answer is to cool the gas until it shrinks to a liquid that is 600 times smaller than its original volume. In this form, it can be transported by special ships. It’s called Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).

We Transport A Lot More Gas By Not Transporting Gas
With our joint venture partners, we have been at the forefront of the development of this technology for over 25 years. And we have contributed to recent breakthroughs that have increased the scale of LNG production and transportation by over 50%. By shrinking gas on this massive new scale, the LNG industry has effectively bridged the gap between the gas fields and the countries that seek additional sources - and security - of supply. Which has, in turn, transformed gas from a primarily local fuel to a genuinely global source of cleaner-burning energy.

Meeting Europe’s Gas Demand
European gas demand is expected to grow at about 1.5% a year between now and 2030. Meanwhile, regional production of natural gas is expected to decline. This growing gap between demand and local production will result in a rapid increase in the need for imported gas supplies from new LNG and pipeline projects. So, in addition to multi-billion euro investments with our partners in new production wells, liquefaction facilities and LNG ships, we are developing regasification terminals in Europe to receive imports of new supplies.

• At the heart of the LNG process is the “train”: so called because the facilities used to convert natural gas to liquid are arranged sequentially, like the carriages of a train. Between 2007 and 2009, we plan to participate in the start-up of five new LNG “trains”, supplying the growing gas markets in Europe, the U.S. and Asia
• Off the coast of Rovigo Province in Italy, we are partners with Qatar Petroleum and Edison in constructing the world’s first concrete offshore LNG terminal. Starting in late 2008, the Adriatic terminal will deliver gas from Qatar to the Italian market
• At Milford Haven in Wales, affiliates of Qatar Petroleum, ExxonMobil and Total are converting a former refinery site into the South Hook LNG terminal.