ExxonMobil Technology Makes Breakthrough with World's Largest LNG Carrier

Rig Zone ^ | December 17, 2008 | Exxon Mobil Corp

[Red Badger]

A pirate or a Terrorist would just love one of these............

[Yo-Yo]

But T. Boone said we had lots of domestic Natural Gas. Why do we need to import it?

</sarc>

[thackney]

LNG doesn’t burn or explode. It has to vaporize first and dilute to 5~15% concentration with air. At that concentration it will have warmed and risen given the low specific gravity of methane.

[r9etb]

The end result of these new generation ships is a 20-30 percent reduction in transportation cost.

That's pretty impressive. I wonder what that means in terms of time to pay back the R&D/construction costs.

[thackney]

Did T. Boone also say oil wouldn’t drop below $100 this year?

< /continue sarcasm>

[FBD]

[FBD]

this is an excellent site for ship info: (gcaptain.com)

http://gcaptain.com/maritime/blog/mv-mozah-worlds-largest-lng-carrier/

[umgud]

When I go to AK, I’m always amazed at the number of LNG tankers moored in the Cook Inlet, due to waiting for high tides.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Good for a century of Somali tailgate parties!

[agere_contra]

XOM just rendered current LNG carriers obsolete.

An amazing coup. No surprises, it was achieved by one of the tiny minority of non-national Oil/Gas companies.

[dblshot]

Not quite obsolete as long as you have rega plants like in Lake Charles up the Sabane river and in Boston Harbor. But certainly a plus for building offshore receiving facilities. Too bad no US crews will be used though.

[stockpirate]

So if they pulled it in to a harbor, opened all the valves and waited an hour before detonating it could be very interesting.

[FBD]

Richard Clark made a big deal about LNG ships aa a potential target after 9/11.

There is a risk of a BLEVE incident, (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion)
LNG expands 600 times when it vaporizes, and if a tank were ruptured out over water, it could create a pretty large fireball.

There has only been one terrorist attack on an LNG ship, (The Gas Fountain) and it was in the Persian Gulf, back in the 1980’s.

http://hormuz.robertstrausscenter.org/lng_tankers

An LNG ship was hit by an Exocet missile, and one of the tanks was ruptured. The crew safely abandoned ship, and
the fire was eventually extinguished. It didn't BLEVE. I believe that ship was repaired and put back in service.

[Maine Mariner]

The officers maybe-some recruitment of Maritime Academy graduates for foreign flag LNG ships is occurring

[FBD]

LNG ships all have Coast Guard escorts, and 1000 ft exclusion zones, when they come into ports.

Pirates and terrorists aren’t going to take over an LNG ship.

[thackney]

In laboratory and open ocean combustion tests, there have been no documented cases of LNG BLEVEs. It is a theory that has never been capable of being produced and has been tested several times.

LNG SAFETY MYTHS and LEGENDS
http://www.netl.doe.gov/publications/proceedings/02/ngt/Quillen.pdf

[thackney]

They would freeze a lot of water and nearly all of the Natural Gas that dissipated to a combustible mixture with air would have risen far above the harbor and quickly dissipate.

[FBD]

thanks for the link.

Here's a youtube video putting out an LNG fire:
“LNG put to the test”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C75-J09Ld8A&feature=channel_page

I've been an LNG proponent for some time. We are in the process of getting an LNG terminal here in Oregon.
(Northern Star, Bradwood Landing site)

It's still not a done deal, but FERC has passed it. The local loonies are fighting it tooth and nail, however.
The latest hurdle is that the terminal is in a salmon estuary.

[GonzoGOP]

LNG doesn’t burn or explode. It has to vaporize first and dilute to 5~15% concentration with air. At that concentration it will have warmed and risen given the low specific gravity of methane.

Yes it will explode. It called a BLEVE (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion) and they are particularly nasty. You have to get the conditions right, but once that happens the BOOM is impressive to say the lest.

It starts with a fire that heats up the tank until the LNG begins to boil off faster than the safety valves can vent it. The tank then ruptures and explodes is like a steam boiler going off. Note that at this point the LNG is not burning, just an rapidly changing from liquid to Gas. However as it moves out it mixes with the surrounding air and then the second much more powerful blast goes off.

Although LPG is the usual culprit in a BLEVE LNG can do the trick