Understand Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)

Happy July! This edition of Stanford University’s Understand Energy Learning Hub Energy Spotlight covers liquefied natural gas (LNG). If you like what you see, please share widely and encourage others to subscribe. You can also check out all of our past issues!

What you need to know

Significance: Natural gas is the world's fastest-growing fossil fuel and accounts for 25% of global primary energy supply today. We use natural gas for electricity generation, heating, industrial processes, and as a feedstock for chemicals and fertilizers. Natural gas is transported in two main ways: (1) through pipelines over land or (2) as liquefied natural gas (LNG) in tankers over water. Converting gaseous natural gas to LNG is highly energy-intensive.

About 20% of global natural gas is traded internationally. LNG transport has been growing and now accounts for more than half of inter-regional natural gas transport.

What is LNG? Natural gas occurs in a gaseous state and has low energy density by volume, which makes it expensive to transport. LNG is natural gas that has been converted to liquid form to increase its volumetric energy density for transport and storage purposes. LNG occupies just 1/600 the volume of natural gas for the same amount of energy.

Volumetric energy densities

Three spheres showing the relative volume of gasoline, LNG, and natural gas needed to provide the same energy. Gasoline has the highest volumetric energy density of the three (33 MJ/Liter) and is represented by the smallest sphere. LNG’s volumetric energy density is next at 27 MJ/Liter and is represented by a sphere with 1.22 times the volume of the gasoline sphere. Natural gas has a volumetric energy density of 0.045 MJ/Liter and is represented by a sphere with 600 times the volume of the LNG sphere. — Comparison of LNG volumetric energy density to natural gas and gasoline.

How does LNG work?

Diagram with icons showing that natural gas is liquefied at an export terminal and then shipped via tanker to an import terminal where it is regasified.

Liquefaction: Natural gas is delivered to LNG export terminals via pipeline. It is then cooled to -260°F (-162°C) to condense it from a gas to a liquid. Liquefaction is an extremely energy-intensive process, consuming 7-15% of the natural gas delivered to the export terminal.
Shipping: LNG is transported by tankers designed to keep the natural gas in liquid state by maintaining it at extremely low temperatures, storing it under extremely high pressures, or a combination of both. Advanced insulation and refrigeration systems are necessary to maintain low temperatures, and tanks with a high level of structural integrity are needed to maintain high pressures. Like double-hulled oil tankers, LNG tankers have space between the tanks and the hull to reduce the risk of leakage in case of a hull-breaching incident. The two main types of tankers used for transporting LNG are spherical design and membrane design.
Regasification: Once LNG arrives at an import terminal, it’s warmed and returned to its gaseous state. The natural gas is then ready to be transported (typically by pipeline) for use by residential, commercial, and industrial consumers.

LNG tankers

Spherical (aka Moss-type) LNG tankers use large, independent spherical-shaped tanks that can operate at either low temperatures, high pressures, or a combination of the two. Spherical-shaped tanks minimize heat gain because spheres are the smallest surface-area-to-volume geometric shape. They also distribute pressure uniformly, giving them higher structural integrity than other tank shapes.

Tanker carrying LNG — Spherical LNG tanker. Image by Garry Chapple from Pixabay

Membrane tankers are designed to operate at extremely low temperatures. They use multiple layers of structural and insulating materials to form membrane tanks that minimize heat loss and accommodate some thermal contraction and expansion. Membrane tanks are more space-efficient than spherical tanks because their shape more closely conforms to the ship’s hull.

Membrane LNG tanker. Image by Tennen-Gas

LNG tankers can be quite large. Smaller-scale LNG tankers are used for regional distribution, while medium-sized LNG tankers can be used for regional and international distances. The very largest LNG tankers are similar in length (345m) to Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) and are used to transport large quantities of LNG across long distances to maximize transport efficiency. Q-Flex and Q-Max ships, which were designed in Qatar, are among the largest and most efficient types of LNG tanker in the world. However, not all LNG terminals and maritime chokepoints can accommodate the Q-Max and other very large LNG tankers.

LNG exports: Global LNG exports have been dominated by three countries. The United States is the number one LNG exporter (25% of global LNG exports in 2025). Qatar and Australia followed closely at 19% and 18% respectively. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has disrupted about 93% of Qatar’s LNG exports and 96% of the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) LNG exports – in total about 20% of global LNG supplies. Almost all of the exports from Qatar and the UAE were going to Asian markets, accounting for over 25% of Asia's total LNG imports.

The hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling revolution turned the U.S. from an LNG importer into the leading LNG exporter

In the early 2000s, the U.S. was building LNG import terminals to meet its growing natural gas demand as domestic natural gas production declined. The hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling revolution in the mid-2000s led to a natural gas production boom that enabled the U.S. to become the number one natural gas producer in the world in 2011.

With the increased supply of natural gas, oil and gas companies began converting existing LNG import terminals to LNG export terminals, as well as building new LNG export terminals. For example, Cheniere Energy, the number one LNG producer in the U.S., originally built Sabine Pass LNG terminal in Louisiana in 2008 to import LNG into the U.S. In 2016, Cheniere converted Sabine Pass into an LNG export terminal and shipped the very first LNG cargo from the U.S. One year later, the U.S. became a net exporter of natural gas. Today, the U.S. is the world's largest LNG exporter, with nine operating LNG export terminals and more planned or under construction.

Aerial view of Cheniere’s Sabine Pass showing five large LNG tanks located near a river with an LNG tanker docked in an adjacent port. — Cheniere's Sabine Pass. Photo by Cheniere Energy

LNG imports: Europe (30% of global LNG imports in 2025), China (16%), Japan (15%), and South Korea (11%) are the largest importers of LNG. Japan increased LNG imports after shutting down nuclear power plants following the 2011 Fukushima disaster, but its LNG imports have now returned to pre-Fukushima levels. Europe’s LNG imports increased after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 with Europe’s efforts to reduce reliance on Russian natural gas. The majority (58%) of Europe’s LNG imports come from the U.S., and that share is expected to increase with the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Climate impacts

Delivered LNG has a 63% higher greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity than the natural gas supply overall. About 70% of the GHG emissions from delivered LNG are carbon dioxide (CO₂), mostly from the energy-intensive liquefaction process. The remaining 30% is methane (CH₄), the primary component of natural gas, that leaks into the atmosphere. Methane is a potent GHG because it has more than 80 times the warming impact of CO₂ over a 20-year period. Methods to reduce the GHG intensity of LNG (and natural gas) include electrification and leak mitigation.

Global average emissions from LNG supply by part of the supply chain

	Production, Processing and Transmission	Liquefaction	Shipping	Regasification
% total GHG emissions	47%	33%	18%	1%
Key levers to lower GHG emissions	Leak detection and repair Electrification	Electrification Carbon capture, utilization and storage	Low-emissions fuels Slow steaming	Low-emissions vaporizers Cold energy recovery

Source: International Energy Agency (IEA). Assessing Emissions from LNG Supply and Abatement Options. 2025.

Refer to our Natural Gas Fast Facts for additional environmental impacts of the entire natural gas system.

Current and future trends

Global LNG export capacity is increasing in response to rising demand for natural gas, primarily from Europe and Asia. For example, the U.S. is scaling up its LNG export capacity to more than double by 2029. These planned additions will be concentrated around the U.S. Gulf Coast, where most of the existing LNG export capacity is located. New natural gas pipelines are also planned to transport natural gas from production areas to the export terminals.

North America LNG export capacity by project, 2016-2029
(billion cubic feet per day)

EIA area chart showing the existing LNG export capacity and planned LNG export capacity additions in Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. The U.S. dominates both existing and planned LNG export capacity. — Image source: EIA

In the news

News: The EU purchased a record amount of LNG (18% more than in the same period last year) from Russia’s Yamal LNG project in the first half of 2026, ahead of the complete EU ban on all Russian LNG imports that takes effect at the start of 2027. Yamal is Russia’s largest producer of LNG. The EU will ban Russian natural gas pipeline imports later in 2027.

France, Belgium, and Spain were Yamal’s main EU buyers, importing a combined 9.2 million tonnes of LNG for an estimated US$6.85 billion. Yamal has been highly dependent on Europe for ship repairs, services, and ports. The EU’s ban will force Russia to find alternative customers for Yamal’s LNG next year. However, that may be difficult because some international shipping companies, insurers, and financiers are concerned about exposure to sanctions imposed by the EU.

Location of Yamal LNG production facility and export terminal

Satellite view of Europe map showing the location of Yamal LNG export terminal on the northeast coast of the Yamal Peninsula relative to France, Spain, and Belgium. — Image source: Imagery ©2026 NASA, Map data ©2026 Google, INEGI

Context: The EU has been implementing measures to reduce its dependence on Russian natural gas since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and to avoid helping finance Russia’s side of the war. Measures taken include electrifying end-use services (e.g., the surge in heat pump sales has avoided $11 billion in LNG import costs in the last year), ending pipeline imports of Russian gas through Ukraine, diversifying natural gas resources by increasing LNG supply from other countries (e.g., the U.S.), and increasing the use of renewables and energy storage.

However, the EU has continued to import some natural gas from Russia because those measures haven’t yet been enough to completely replace its reliance on Russian natural gas. The recent surge in EU LNG purchases from Yamal provides a short-term buffer before the EU’s complete ban on Russian natural gas imports takes effect in the fall of 2027.

Fun Fact

Saturn’s moon Titan has rivers, lakes, and seas of liquefied methane, the main component of LNG!

Map of Titan’s surface showing several liquid methane rivers and lakes, including Kraken Mare.

Titan's largest lake, Kraken Mare, is larger than the five U.S. Great Lakes combined and is at least 330 feet deep. The chemical makeup of the lake is 70% methane, plus a mix of nitrogen and ethane. Photo source: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASI/USGS.

Titan is the only world in our solar system besides Earth known to have standing liquids on its surface in the forms of rivers, lakes, and seas, but Titan is so cold (-290°F/-179°C) that those bodies are made of liquid methane and ethane rather than water. Scientists have observed methane clouds, methane rain, and methane-filled lakes more than 70 kilometers across on Titan!