Britain imports liquified gas as North Sea reserve shrinks

LONDON, July 4 (Xinhua) -- Britain is reportedly to be importing liquified gas, for the first time in history as its North Sea oil reserve dwindles.

The arrival of a tanker full of liquified natural gas (LNG) from Algeria as planned, is seen as a rebirth of the country's LNG industry, Financial Times reported Monday.

The tanker, planned to dock at the new oil terminal in Southeastern Britain's Kent, is said to be "symbolic" of Britain moving from being an important gas exporter of an importer.

Britain's gas reserve, which began highly exploited in the 1970s, ranked as the forth largest producer in the world.

Britain's experience is similar to that of other natural gas consumers like the United States, where its own production is also declining.

Industrial nations, like the United States, are imparting increasing amount of LNG from gas-rich nations such as Algeria, Qatar and Indonesia.

The market for gas has been limited by its costly transport price, but with the falling of liquifying the gas and transport cost, LNG is becoming all the more important with the decline of oil reserve and rocketing oil price.

It is believed that LNG will supply over 10 percent of global gas needs by 2020.

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