LNG storage tanks allow end-users-commonly refineries and power plants-to store liquefied natural gas in order to allow for continuous operations. LNG occupies less than one-thousandth of the volume that the material does gaseous natural gas, allowing for relatively large volumes of gas to be stored in a smaller area, though the difficulties and expense (not to mention safety concerns) of transporting LNG overland usually dictate that such storage facilities be located close to shore. Unlike crude oil and its refined products, which can be transported in anything from buckets to road tankers, natural gas necessitates air-tight and pressurized containers and transport systems. The intense pressures and low temperatures that make LNG, and therefore international natgas trade possible, are functionally impossible to recreate within an extended land-based transportation network.
