Natural gas liquefaction vessel

Abstract

A natural gas liquefaction vessel including an increased deadweight tonnage, as compared to a liquefied natural gas carrier (LNGC) of a comparably-sized ship, is achieved by reducing the LNGC's cargo capacity. This difference creates room on the port and starboard sides of cargo tanks to increase the size of the adjacent wing tanks. The increased size of the wing tanks occupy the space created by the reduced cargo tank size of the vessel and may support a larger upper trunk deck. The ballast wing tanks and smaller cargo tanks increase the deadweight available. With this approach, the larger upper trunk deck of the vessel is able to support an efficient floating liquefaction plant that improves the LNG value chain because it is capable of producing 2.0-3.0 MTPA in the footprint of a standard vessel hull, such as for example a Q-Max hull.

Description

BACKGROUND1. Field of the Invention

[0001] Embodiments of the invention described herein pertain to the field of marine liquefaction of natural gas. More particularly, but not by way of limitation, one or more embodiments of the invention describe a natural gas liquefaction vessel.2. Description of the Related Art

[0002] Natural gas is typically transported by pipeline from the location where it is produced to the location where it is consumed. However, large quantities of natural gas may sometimes be produced in an area or country where production far exceeds demand, and it may not be feasible to transport the gas by pipeline to the location of commercial demand, for example because the location of production and the location of demand are separated by an ocean or rain forest. Without an effective way to transport the natural gas to a location where there is a commercial demand, opportunities to monetize the gas may be lost.

[0003] Liquefaction of natural gas facilitates storage and tran...

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