Gas and LNG come out from oil’s shadow, part 3: LNG and a global market

The third part of our fourth chapter on the history of oil takes the story of gas to the present day with the rise of LNG and the creation of a truly global market

The oil-focused energy crises of the 1970s not only helped spur pipeline development in Europe but also helped bring the relatively new technology of LNG into its own and drive its uptake. In time, this would revolutionise the gas trade, eventually making it a truly global market. It all began with a voyage by a converted cargo ship, the Methane Pioneer, which took 5,000cm of LNG from Lake Charles, Louisiana to the UK’s Canvey Island in 1959. This ‘proof of concept’ voyage demonstrated that such a cargo could be safely and effectively transported long distances, even if this early effort employed glass fibre and balsa wood as insulation.   Commercial LNG trade followed soon after. The first