The United States has announced that it will help the EU get rid of Russian gas with LNG shipments. Here’s what it is and what the differences are.
An LNG carrier Credit: wikipedia
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To get rid of all or part of the Russian gasthat covers well the 40 percent national needs, theItaly will necessarily have to look for other sources of energy supply. Since the outbreak of war in ukraine Chancellor Luigi di Maio met with several international partners to seek agreements in this regard, but significant help will come directly from U.S; The president Joe Biden in fact announced that from this year it will ship to Europe 15 billion cubic meters of LNG, with the goal of reaching 50 billion tons by 2030. But what exactly is this LNG? And how does it differ from the gas we buy from Russia?
What is LNG
The term LNG means Liquid Natural Gasalso known by the English abbreviation LNG (Liquefied natural gas). As explained in an article by the United States Energy Information Administration EIA), LNG is simply natural gas this comes cold to bring you to the change of state, from there gaseous for that liquid. Natural gas, extracted from deposits and derived from the decomposition of organic matter, comes liquefied cooling it to a temperature below its boiling point, approximately 162°C. The procedure involves interventions of purification AND condensation of the extracted gas, until obtaining an odorless and colorless liquid composed mainly of methane with minor parts of butane, propane and others.
LNG transport ship. credit: wikipedia
As indicated by the EIA, the natural gas extracted comes pipelines in particular ocean tanks or directly on LNG carriers (LNG Carrier), where the liquefaction process takes place at or slightly above atmospheric pressure. On board the tankers the gas is stored in huge cryogenic tanks double wall, ready to be stored and transported to the destination. LNG is normally transferred to locations not reached by pipelines, such as the various Asian countries that import the compound from the United States. The EIA points out that LNG can also be transported in smaller containers “in accordance with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which can be placed on ships and trucks. It should be borne in mind that liquid natural gas occupies a volume 600 times less compared to the gaseous state, thus significantly improving transport and logistics conditions. It is also recalled that LNG it’s not flammable in the conditions where it is kept inside the cryogenic tanks of LNG carriers, so its safety is also very beneficial.
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Offshore regasification plant in the Adriatic. credit: wikipedia
Once delivered to the recipient, the LNG is reconverted to the gas phase in the socalled industrial regasification plantsthat can be so much regasifiers onshore and offshore structures, known as Floating Storage and Regasification Units or FSRU (AngloSaxon acronym). The procedure occurs simply by increasing the temperature of the LNG, through bundles of pipes and tanks that allow heat exchange, until the insertion of natural gas into the distribution network. The difference between American LNG and Russian natural gas is therefore in the state of the compound (the first liquid, the second gaseous) and the method of transport (tanks and pipelines, respectively). Of course, there are also cost differences, with the price per kilo of LNG, as noted by Federmethane, going from €0.926 in January 2021 to €2,481 in January 2022. The price has progressively increased over the past year, but has seen an increase significant as result of the war in Ukraine. The price of LNG arriving from the US has not yet been agreed and will depend on individual agreements.