How Natural Gas is Supplied
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Pipelines
By virtue of its gaseous state, natural gas is usually supplied through
pipelines, especially in terms of intra-state trading. The European
Union depends on pipelines to transport more than two-thirds of its
imports of natural gas from Russia and Norway. The fixed nature of
pipelines and the long-term commitments in the contracts that involves
supplying natural gas through it deems it highly risky for importing
countries, at least in their perception. Three quarters of natural gas
exports to Europe from Russia through Ukraine as a transit country. The
precarious political relationship between Russia and the transit
countries, Ukraine and Belarus, has made the energy supply of natural
gas partially uncertain because of major disruption between 2004 and
2010.
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Liquefied Natural Gas
The second method to transport gas from gas-producing areas to
gas-consuming areas is in a container or a tanker in liquefied form.
Liquefied Natural Gas is produced by cooling natural gas to -161 C at
which it becomes liquid. It has the unique advantage of having a reduced
volume of about 630 times more than natural gas. Its liquid state makes
its treatment is shipping, more or less, like oil. Recent has witnessed
an increasing investment in the infrastructure of Liquefied Natural Gas,
in terms of onshore, offshore and floating liquefaction and
re-gasification terminals and vessels. This was reflected in the volume
of trade which multiplied several times.