LNG as a fuel carries with it many risks
Extracts from a MarineLink.com article by Joseph Keefe published 26 June 2014 under the headline: “Maritime Fuel of the Future: Training to an Uncertain Standard”
First extract
Despite its unquestionable allure, LNG as a fuel carries with it as many risks as it does answers to the problems it promises to solve.
Second extract
Separately, Royal Dutch Shell plc announced in December that the company would not move forward with a proposed 140,000 barrels per day Gulf Coast gas-to-liquids (GTL) project in Louisiana. Shell described the decision tersely by saying, “Despite the ample supplies of natural gas in the area, the company has taken the decision that GTL is not a viable option for Shell in North America, at this time, due to the likely development cost of such a project, uncertainties on long-term oil and gas prices and differentials, and Shell’s strict capital discipline.”
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Louisiana Site Selected for Gulf Coast GTL Facility: September 25, 2013
Dec 5 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc said it would not move forward with its proposed 140,000 barrel per day Gulf Coast gas-to-liquids (GTL) project in Louisiana, despite ample supplies of natural gas in the area.
COMMENT RECEIVED FROM A REGULAR CONTRIBUTOR
John
You seem to have confused LNG and GTL
Natural Gas Liquefaction is a physical process by which natural gas (primarily methane) is cooled sufficiently to become a liquid (LNG), and can be easily transported in a specially constructed cryogenic tanker. The liquid is heated at the destination in a regasification plant, vaporised and returned to the gaseous state. This is a process which has been in widespread use for the transport of hydrocarbon gases since the 1960s. Shell is currently involved in the construction of a floating vessel equipped to cool and liquefy natural gas produced from the Prelude field in Australia.
Gas-to-Liquids is a chemical process (Fischer-Tropsch process) developed in the 1920s in Germany for the manufacture of liquid hydrocarbon fuels from coal. The process was further refined by Sasol in South Africa during the 1960s as a means of circumventing the oil embargo. Shell has built plants in Bintulu (the first of which was destroyed in an explosion and fire) and more recently in Qatar which use a similar process to convert natural gas into easily transportable liquid hydrocarbon fuels such as diesel and jet fuel.
Both LNG and GTL use hydrocarbon gas feedstock and produce a liquid, although liquid methane (LNG) is very different from diesel fuel (GTL). Both involve the construction of huge plants at a cost of tens of billions of dollars and are used to enable stranded gas to be monetised.
Reply by John
Have now added a vital missing word – “Separately”.
Your explanation was so clear and informative that I decided to publish it in any case.
The TRUTH will set you FREE.
Extracts from a Motley Fool article by Royston Wild published 26 June 2014 
Shell entered into the deal in 2013 with then Putin puppet President Viktor Yanukovych, before he was ousted. As can be seen in the FT article, Shell and Chevron are now both trying to hide behind claimed business principles. Its a bit late for that.
