Oh no, not more natural gas. Just when gas traders thought America had all the gas reserves it could handle, Royal Dutch Shell announces a landmark project that could "unlock dozens of strained gas fields that are too remote to be developed", according to the Wall Street Journal.
The project is to build the world's first floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility a giant vessel that could process offshore gas reserves in situ. Shell could send the vessel to tap reserves far offshore, where the economics wouldn't justify the construction of a pipeline to the coast. As Australia's energy minister Martin Ferguson was quick to point out, floating storage would allow Shell to develop the 140 trillion cubic feet of stranded gas worth $890bn that currently sit off the Australian coast.
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