Commercial natural gas liquefaction at Arzew
Licuefacción comercial de gas natural en Arzew
- Date
- 1964 · confidence high
- Place
- Arzew, Oran, Algeria
- Credited to
- Compagnie Algérienne du Méthane Liquide (CAMEL)
- Field
- Matter & energy
What it is
The CAMEL plant at Arzew, operating from 1964, was the first natural gas liquefaction facility at commercial scale for export. It cools gas to about -162 °C to reduce it to 1/600th of its volume and carry it in LNG tankers.
Earlier pilot and peak-shaving plants existed (Cleveland, 1941; Methane Pioneer trials in 1959); Arzew is the first large-scale base-load plant and first commercial shipment (October 1964 to the UK).
What it led to
- maritime transport of liquefied natural gas and the global LNG market
- LNG carriers such as Methane Princess and Methane Progress, which brought LNG to the UK
- energy diversification for Europe and Japan