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United States-based EnerSea said CNG transport systems such as Votrans – Volume Optimised Transport and Storage – are becoming increasingly favoured over liquefied natural gas systems for transporting gas in many applications worldwide.
"Many gas producing fields lack suitable reserves to support LNG projects and many markets lack sufficient demand to justify costly terminals for compressing the gas," EnerSea managing director Paul Britton said.
"Transportation of this 'stranded' gas to these energy-hungry markets in compressed rather than liquid form offers cost and operational benefits," he said.
The testing was carried out by the Gas Technology Institute, a US natural gas industry research organisation.
EnerSea said the system was purpose-built to perform loading and unloading cycles at planned operating pressures and temperatures, as well as in upset and abnormal operating conditions.
A spokesman for the American Bureau of Shipping, William Sember, said: "The positive results from these fatigue and burst tank tests confirm the structural reliability of the fabricated CNG tank and materials, demonstrating that the EnerSea CNG tank design meets American Bureau of Shipping criteria.
"The functional tests have also been successful in illustrating the safety and efficiency of the Votrans system," Sember said.
