LNG

Explainers about liquefied natural gas, including liquefaction, LNG shipping, regasification terminals, global gas trade, energy security, pricing, infrastructure and emissions.

What is LNG? How natural gas learned to cross an ocean

Featured image showing natural gas being cooled into LNG and transported by an LNG carrier across the sea.

Natural gas has one awkward physical problem: as a gas, it takes up an enormous amount of space. LNG solves that by cooling natural gas to around −162°C, shrinking its volume roughly 600 times and turning a pipeline-bound fuel into something that can cross oceans on ships. That simple phase change quietly transformed natural gas from a regional commodity into a global one.