Mitsui Tapping into Shale Gas Boom

Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., (MES), foreseeing the effects of the shale gas revolution to maritime industries, has been developing a new type medium size multi gas carrier for sea transport of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and co-products of shale gas, such as ethane and ethylene gas (LEG).

MES believes that in the coming decade LNG carriers (LNGC) will probably be classified into large-scale LNGCs and medium-scale LNGCs, centering on the hub ports over the world.

Meanwhile, LEG carriers (LEGC), which have been usually smaller in size, are expected to shift to larger LEGCs, comparable to medium-scale LNGCs in terms of the capacity.

In expectation of the new market development on the intersection of the said two trends, and a growing trade scale of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) such as propane and butane, MES developed “neo82GC” a prototype of medium-sized multi gas carrier.

MES will get support from Moss Maritime on a further technical review of the multi-gas carrier.