Design and Experiments of a Concrete Barge for LNG Storage

Abstract

Natural gas is a pure energy that is stored in the earth, its deposits are almost comparable to those of petroleum, and it is a valuable resource for mankind. As is the case with petroleum, offshore recovery of natural gas is flourishing markedly these days. For a small gas field with less deposits, the liquefaction and storage of recovered gas either on the sea or beach near to that gas field is possible: the famous example of this is the LPG storage barge at the Arjuna oil field off Java. When storing LNG, the storage facility demands a high standard of safety with respect to the prevention of pollution and disaster. This paper describes the design of offshore storage of LNG by using concrete barge and investigates its safety experimentally by using members and a model barge. As a result of these experiments, this basic design concept has been officially approved by NIPPON KAIJI KYOKAI, the Japan shipping register association.