Justification of the scope of competitive application of liquefied natural gas

Abstract

Recent events in the world have shown the unprofitability of implementing projects of large-capacity liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants. Relatively small investments in low-tonnage production are more attractive for investors due to the shorter construction period and payback period. To date, various models of LNG production projects are being implemented in Russia, most of them are integrated, including gas extraction, due to which they are competitively stable. This paper provides a solution to the issue of delivery of liquefied natural gas using a logistic model that connects the LNG production plant and end-users of gas, taking into account the geometric and functional characteristics of vehicles, existing transport interchanges, the characteristics of the population of territories, the required volumes of gas consumption and other determining factors. As an example of the operability of the proposed model, the optimal distance of gas transportation is substantiated by calculation using the example of one of the regions of the Russian Federation. Depending on the annual gas consumption, the critical radius varies within a sufficiently large range — from 40 to 150 km. According to the algorithm presented in the article, cost cutting can amount to about $ 1,538 million/year.