The world's first ocean-going liquefied natural gas carrier was the Methane Pioneer, which entered service in 1959 with a capacity of 5,500 cubic metres (190,000 cubic feet). Since then, ever-larger LNG carriers have been built, leading to the modern fleet of giant Q-Max LNG vessels operating around the world, each capable of carrying up to 266,000 m3 (9,400,000 cubic feet).
The boom in natural gas production in the United States has been driven by hydraulic fracturing (fracking), which has led to significant growth in natural gas production since 2010. The first U.S. LNG export facility was completed in 2016, with others to follow. Growing U.S. natural gas supplies and export facilities have increased demand for LNG carriers around the world.
Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has dramatically increased demand for LNG supplies around the world. U.S. shipments to Europe more than doubled in 2022 to 2.7 trillion cubic feet.
As of 2023, there were 772 active LNG carriers worldwide, but “this figure includes floating storage.”
