Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: LNG

Mains level: Not Much

lng

The EU is weaning itself off piped Russian gas by rapidly expanding imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from US.

What is Liquefied Natural Gas or LNG?

LNG is natural gas reduced to a liquid state (liquefaction) through intense cooling to around -161 degrees Celsius (-259 Fahrenheit).
It is constituted almost wholly of methane — a potent greenhouse gas and can be transported around the world by ship.
This liquid gas is 600 times smaller than the original volume and is half the weight of water.
After arriving at its destination, the cargo is regasified in a floating terminal and redistributed through pipelines.

Economic feasibility of LNG

High cost of liquefaction: despite LNG’s export potential, the high cost of liquefaction and producing LNG has limited its market.
Losses: Between 10-25% of the energy of the gas is being lost during the liquefaction process.
Costly transport: The cooling, liquefying and transport processes, as well as the post-transport regasification procedures, also require a lot of energy.

Emission: With LNG creating almost 10 times more emissions than piped gas by one estimate, its rapid expansion will likely compromise climate targets.
Risks of methane leakages: Methane loss across the supply chain risks also contributes to LNG’s high emissions.
Huge carbon equivalence: Meanwhile, LNG emits 14 times as much carbon as solar power when producing the equivalent amount of energy, and 50 times as much carbon as wind power.