Oil and gas production handbook An introduction to oil and gas production

Figure 17. PRICO SMR and Linde LIMUM
® 

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5.5.2 Storage, transport and regasification 
Storage at the terminals and on LNG carriers is done in cryogenic tanks at 
atmospheric pressure or slightly above, up to 125 kPa. The tanks are 
insulated, but will not keep LNG cold enough to avoid evaporation. Heat 
leakage will heat and boil off the LNG. Therefore LNG is stored as a boiling 
cryogen, which means that the liquid is stored at its boiling point for its 
storage pressure (atmospheric pressure), i.e., about -162 ºC. As the vapor 
boils off, heat of vaporization is absorbed from and cools the remaining 
liquid. The effect is called auto-refrigeration. With efficient insulation, only a 
relatively small amount of boil-off is necessary to maintain temperature. Boil-
off gas from land-based LNG storage tanks is compressed and fed to natural 
gas pipeline networks. On LNG carriers, the boil-off gas can be used for fuel.