A COMPREHENSIVE SYSTEM FOR THE STORAGE AND TRANSPORTATION OF NATURAL GAS IN A LIGHT HYDROCARBON LIQUID MEDIUM

摘要

Systems and methods for loading, processing and conditioning raw production gas, for production storage and transport of a liquid solution of natural gas held within a light hydrocarbon solvent, and for the delivery of pipeline quality natural gas or fractionated products to market. Transport vessels utilize pipe based containment systems to hold the more densely packed constituents of the liquid solution than attainable for natural gas under the same conditions. Process systems are provided for loading, transporting and unloading the liquid solution from the containment system and then offloading natural gas in gaseous state. The systems are adaptable for selective storage and transport of NGLs to provide a total service package for the movement of natural gas and associated gas production. The mode of storage is suited for both marine and land transportation and configured in modular form to suit a particular application and/or scale of operation.