Development of new technologies for shipping natural gas by sea

In recent years dynamic increase of orders for ships intended for liquified natural gas (LNG) shipping has been observed with simultaneous trend of increasing their transport capability. This results from the fact that natural gas has become today the third energy source worldwide just next to crude oil and coal. The fast growth of demand for natural gas and its limited resources would cause growth of its price, therefore better solutions of natural gas transport technology with respect to economy, ecology and safety should be searched for. This paper presents various technologies for natural gas transport by sea with special attention paid to some alternative methods of transport, namely: CNG and NGH ransport technologies in contrast to LNG one.