The multinational oil and gas company Shell is planning to build a natural gas platform that will be the world’s biggest ship. The vessel will be finished by 2017 and will anchor off the Australian coast.
Currently the ship is being built by Samsung in South Korea. When completed , the vessel will weigh about 600,000 tons, over ten times the weight of the legendary Titanic and six times more than the biggest aircraft carrier . It will have a length of 5 football fields.
The ship will drill for natural gas from a giant gas field off the coast of northern Australia that Shell discovered in 2007. On board the gas is cooled down to a temperature of -160° C and becomes a liquid . In this state it is 600 times smaller than in gas form, so that it can be easily stored in giant tanks.
Once a week tankers will load liquid gas from the platform and transport it to other countries in Asia, above all China and Japan. Shell has chosen to carry out the project off Australia because it is near the booming markets in eastern Asia where more and more natural gas will be needed for the industries of these countries.
The vast ship is a technological challenge for Shell because it must be built so that it can survive the cyclones and storms that hit the area regularly. It is designed to withstand 200 mile an hour winds and 20 meter high waves.
The platform is expected to be in operation off northern Australia for about 25 years. When there is no more gas in the field the vessel will be dismantled and rebuilt somewhere else. Shell states that building such a liquefied gas platform is a much cheaper way to store and transport gas than by using pipeThe project will also please Australia. The government is expected to collect millions in taxes from the operation.
Not everyone, however , is pleased with the Shell’s new energy project. Environmentalists fear that gas will leak out into the ocean and damage the sea’s ecosystem .lines.
The multinational oil and gas company Shell is planning to build a natural gas platform that will be the world’s biggest ship. The vessel will be finished by 2017 and will anchor off the Australian coast.Currently the ship is being built by Samsung in South Korea. When completed , the vessel will weigh about 600,000 tons, over ten times the weight of the legendary Titanic and six times more than the biggest aircraft carrier . It will have a length of 5 football fields.The ship will drill for natural gas from a giant gas field off the coast of northern Australia that Shell discovered in 2007. On board the gas is cooled down to a temperature of -160° C and becomes a liquid . In this state it is 600 times smaller than in gas form, so that it can be easily stored in giant tanks.Once a week tankers will load liquid gas from the platform and transport it to other countries in Asia, above all China and Japan. Shell has chosen to carry out the project off Australia because it is near the booming markets in eastern Asia where more and more natural gas will be needed for the industries of these countries.The vast ship is a technological challenge for Shell because it must be built so that it can survive the cyclones and storms that hit the area regularly. It is designed to withstand 200 mile an hour winds and 20 meter high waves.The platform is expected to be in operation off northern Australia for about 25 years. When there is no more gas in the field the vessel will be dismantled and rebuilt somewhere else. Shell states that building such a liquefied gas platform is a much cheaper way to store and transport gas than by using pipeThe project will also please Australia. The government is expected to collect millions in taxes from the operation.Not everyone, however , is pleased with the Shell’s new energy project. Environmentalists fear that gas will leak out into the ocean and damage the sea’s ecosystem .lines.
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