The Environmental Footprint of Natural Gas Transportation: LNG vs. Pipeline

Emissions to air from the production and transportation of natural gas is an important aspect of the decision making regarding the new infrastructure development in the offshore natural gas sector. In this study, we estimate the emissions of CO2, NOx, nmVOC and CH4 from extraction, processing and transportation of a unit of dry natural gas from the continental shelf of Norway to consumer markets; and compare the resulting emission intensities of the pipeline value chains, where natural gas is transported in gaseous form, with the LNG (liquefied natural gas) chains, where natural gas is liquefied and shipped by LNG carriers. The analysis substantiates the environmental superiority of pipeline chains over LNG-based chains. However, the comparative analysis of ten pipeline chains highlights the variability of the environmental performance of different chain configurations. The isolated analysis of the transportation segment of the value chains also confirms the superiority of the pipeline transportation over LNG.