Development Strategy 



The strategy behind the importation of liquefied natural gas is 

 that it can compete economically with gas from domestic fields, in spite 

 of large capital expenditures for processing plants and the highly 

 specialized LNG tankers, which carry cargo in only one direction. The 

 costs of two conversions, plus transportation should not exceed the 

 price of gas that might be available through domestic gas pipelines. 

 With declining United States reserves, the importation of LNG may be the 

 only way to maintain adequate gas supplies. Liquefaction plants being 

 designed are expected to process three billion cubic feet of gas per day 

 [56], whereas the economic minimum may be near 175 million cubic feet 

 per day [57]. 



To reduce some of the steps in getting LNG into the gas pipelines 

 one company has proposed an offshore, floating liquefaction plant. 

 Although none of these have been built, this type of structure could be 

 moved to an offshore gas field, liquefy the gas and load LNG directly 

 onto a tanker as illustrated in Figure 46. There would be no need 

 either for a prohibitively expensive offshore gas pipeline or for an 

 onshore liquefaction plant, thus smaller gas fields could be developed 

 that otherwise would prove uneconomic due to the above costs. With its 

 mobility, the floating, liquefaction plant could be moved to utilize 

 those resources. 



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