LNG

LNG (liquefied natural gas) is natural gas cooled into a liquid so it can be shipped by tanker to markets a pipeline cannot reach, then turned back into gas.

LNG lets natural gas travel by ship rather than only by pipeline. Cooling the gas to a very low temperature shrinks it into a liquid, compact enough to load onto specialized tankers, then it is warmed back into gas at a receiving terminal before entering a pipeline network. This turns what is normally a regional fuel, tied to whatever pipelines reach a market, into something that can be shipped between continents like oil.

LNG connects gas markets that would otherwise trade at very different prices. When a shortage pushes up gas prices in one region, cargoes can be redirected there from wherever the price is lower, which is part of why benchmarks like Henry Hub, TTF, and JKM move together more than they once did. A single LNG cargo, priced and sold on the spot market, is a spot cargo.