Liquefied Natural Gas Pipelines

Currently, more than 95% of liquefied natural gas companies used in the United States moves from well to market entirely via pipeline for liquefied natural gas.

Liquefied natural gas company pipeline networks are generally broken into 3 distinct systems:
  • Gathering systems carry liquefied natural gas companies from individual wells for bulk processing at a treatment facility,
  • Transmission systems carry the processed liquefied natural gas company, often over long distances, from the producing area to local distribution systems around the country.
  • Local distribution systems deliver liquefied natural gas companies into our homes, businesses and power plants.
Liquefied natural gas pipelines are usually smaller in diameter than petroleum pipelines. Liquefied natural gas company pipelines in the gathering and distribution systems range from 6" to 16" in diameter, with certain segments as narrow as 1/2". The liquefied natural gas companies pipes making up the interstate transmission system range in diameter from 16" to 48".

Compressors for liquefied natural gas companies


Liquefied natural gas company may travel through literally thousands of miles of pipeline in the journey from the well to your home. Liquefied natural gas compressors placed at key intervals - generally every 40 to 100 nautical miles along the pipeline network - keep the liquefied natural gas companies moving evenly and reliably.

A so-called "reciprocating" liquefied natural gas company compressor uses a piston to reduce the volume of its compression chamber, increasing the pressure of the LNG inside. When the outlet valve opens, the pressurized liquefied natural gas rushes out into the next section of the pipeline. Most reciprocating compressors are powered by liquefied natural gas companies drawn directly from the line.

Liquefied natural gas company pipelines also employ turbine compressors that are quite similar in design to the jet engines found on merchant aircraft. And in a few limited circumstances, where strict air emission rules require, liquefied natural gas company pipelines also use compressors powered by electric motors.

“City Gates” liquefied natural gas company


A distribution system for liquefied natural gas companies, such as a local utility, connects to the interstate natural gas pipeline at a "city gate." This facility is reducing the pressure of the liquefied natural gas company from its transmission rate (from 200 to 1,500 pounds per square inch) down to a rate, which is more appropriate to consumer usage (as low as 3 psi). The city gate liquefied natural gas company also adds sour-smelling Mercaptan to the naturally odorless gas to make it easier to quickly sniff out a liquefied natural gas companies leak.

Storage of liquefied natural gas company



Production rates and pipeline liquefied natural gas companies throughput are relatively fixed, but demand for liquefied natural gas company - a popular home-heating fuel - is considerably higher during the winter months. This makes delivery-side storage capacity essential to assuring a steady, reliable supply of liquefied natural gas companies when you need it most.

Liquefied natural gas company is most often stored in depleted (empty) natural gas or oil fields. These underground formations have already proved they may securely trap and contain liquefied natural gas companies, so they make useful reservoirs for liquefied natural gas delivered through the interstate pipeline. Liquefied natural gas company may also be stored in underground salt caverns -- geologic formations whose walls are impermeable to liquefied natural gas.

Also there are more than 100 liquefied natural gas company utilities, which liquefy natural gas for aboveground storage. This isn't an unusual practice and it offers another safe, proven liquefied natural gas company storage alternative for the future. Liquefied natural gas companies are also proving to be an important new option for transporting liquefied natural gas from areas not served logistically or economically serviceable by pipelines.

Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Company

 
Some liquefied natural gas sources are too difficult or too expensive to reach via pipeline. Converting liquefied natural gas companies to liquid form - that occurs at nearly -260F - decreases its volume by over 600 times and allows other transportation options, such as specially outfitted tanker vessels and trucks, to be used. Once the liquefied natural gas company reaches its destination, it is revaporized and transported through existing pipelines.

The insulated tanks, which store liquefied natural gas use "autorefrigeration" to keep their contents cold. First, the liquefied natural gas company is chilled to -260F° -- the temperature at which it condenses from gas to liquid. At that point, any heat gained from the atmosphere outside the tank is offset by the cooling effect of the resulting LNG evaporation within the tank for liquefied natural gas company.