LNG as a marine fuel: Likelihood of LNG releases

Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) presents additional hazards compared with traditional marine fuels, such as oil and diesel. Hence, the safety risk is also different to that from traditional fuels. To ensure the safety of those onboard it is necessary to consider different and/or additional safeguards when using LNG. In the absence of prescriptive requirements, risk analysis techniques are being used to identify such safeguards. However, it is not always apparent if these safeguards address those areas that contribute most to the risk. To help with this, a risk assessment model has been developed. A critical step in this model is the determination of release likelihood and this provides guidance on the selection of appropriate safeguards in leak prevention. This paper summarises the release likelihood data used and provides an example of its use for a simplified LNG fuelling system.