And, you thought we had some big shipts... |

In America, we haven’t built a new petrochemical refinery in years. which is why when one of them gets shut down (hurricane, accident at the plant, a blocked waterway), fuel costs rise in a heartbeat.

And, with our natural gas boom, there is talk about exporting American fuel. Something that actually requires an act of Congress. Not just the shale oil we are converting to natural gas, but even natural gas recovered from off-shore drilling.

Right now, Israel (and Cyprus) are cashing on on the natural gas that’s been found in the Mediterranean. (Not since Israel gave back the Sinai have they had their own fuel resources, other than nuclear.)

Normally, these offshore drilling sites pump their wares to a facility on land. There the gas is liquefied (pressurized) and then loaded on ships for export. (Israel uses the fuel domestically and exports it to other countries.)

Hyundai, Samsung, and Daewoo- the big Korean ship builders, as well as Wison (Shanghai, China) want to continue cashing in on the oil and gas boom. Instead of building (and protecting) these long pipelines to the shore, the idea is to convert the gas to liquid directly on board a ship. A ship bigger than an aircraft carrier. Which can be moved to the various sites that are harvesting the natural gas. Lowering costs (other than the cost of the ship, which is NOT chicken-feed) is the claim.

Of course, it’s not clear who will regulate the safety and environmental status of these superships. Consider the facts- the gas will be pressurized and cooled to -160 C (-256 F); and since they will be on the seas, environmental laws may not apply. And, you can bet that these ships will fly flags of convenience. (That means registering the ships in countries that look the other way at regulations- be they safety or environmental concerns.)

It seems that we will see these FLNG (floating liquefied natural gas vessels) in the waters off Columbia in 2015. This particular ship being built by Wison will be capable of producing 500,000 tons of gas per year. (That’s almost 3 million pounds of LNG a day!)

Shell is awaiting its baby, the Prelude, a 1600 feet long and 243 feet wide LNG factory- which is expected to cost $12 billion by the time it’s finished in 2016. The Prelude will produce more than 21 million pounds of LNG a day- enough to meet the demands of Hong Kong.

(For comparison, the largest ship of any kind, the Maersk cargo vessel, is only 1300 feet long and 194 feet wide. And, this ship is so large it can’t travel through some canals and straits.)

Maybe it’s time we start updating our laws- worldwide.