EXXONMOBIL Upstream Research Company, Houston, Texas, has licensed a patented liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage tank technology to Skanska Whessoe, a United Kingdom engineering, procurement, and construction contractor with specialized, worldwide experience in storage and handling of low-temperature fluids.
This new innovation in LNG storage technology, called modular tanks, offers the potential for significant cost savings and faster construction times for LNG import and export terminals.
The technology employs modern shipyard fabrication practices and a scalable, modular design to provide a full-containment LNG storage system. The tanks have been designed and rigorously evaluated for a wide range of conditions including earthquake prone areas of the Pacific-rim, North America, and Europe.
ExxonMobil's modular tanks are compatible with the design standards and criteria currently being considered for use at LNG import terminals worldwide. To provide a high degree of safety, the inner, nickel/steel, and the outer, reinforced, prestressed concrete tanks of the modular storage system are liquid and gas tight, and independently capable of containing the stored LNG.
The modular LNG storage tank system is another example of ExxonMobil's extensive LNG technology development program contributing to the company's expanding LNG business.
While currently participating in the production of about 20 percent of the world's LNG, ExxonMobil is leveraging its LNG experience, technology, and worldwide gas marketing processes to rapidly grow its LNG portfolio.
Significant new applications of LNG technology are being planned for ExxonMobil's joint venture projects with Qatar Petroleum that are developing resources from Qatar's giant North Field. These include the world's largest liquefaction trains, each producing about 7.8 million tons annually (MTA) of LNG, surpassing the current industry-record 4.7 MTA trains in RasGas II, which is also a joint venture project between Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil. The LNG from these large trains will be transported to market via a new generation of very large LNG carriers.