CNG, LPG and biogas distribution: Efficiency and losses

Hauling heavy steel, and the methane that leaks from digesters

What this tab covers How much energy is lost while it moves and while it waits in storage or transit, and how much energy the transport itself consumes, in per cent.

Losses come less from leaks than from hauling heavy containers and from energy spent compressing gas. Biogas plants can leak methane, which matters for the climate.

Chart: Efficiency ranges

Theoretical limit Lost while held

Losses by measure

Measure	Range	Type	What is measured
Gas share of a loaded CNG module's mass	33.5%⁷	Theoretical limit	8,720 kg of gas in a 26,020 kg loaded 40-foot module; the rest is container and cylinders hauled both ways (calculated)
Gas left in a returned CNG module	4%⁷	Lost while held	Residual 10 bar out of 250 bar, ideal-gas approximation (calculated); not lost, but not delivered
Methane emitted by biogas plants	6% of output⁹	Whole chain	IEA average estimate from limited evidence; well-run and poorly run plants differ widely

Holding periods and inventory

Measure	Value
LPG voyage time to India	35 to 40 days from the US Gulf, 10 to 12 days from the Middle East³
India's LPG use, 2026	14.74 Mt in January to June, down 8% on a year earlier; June alone down nearly 17%⁴

LPG sits in sealed pressure vessels, so it does not boil off the way LNG does; the main energy costs are fuel for ships and trucks and the work of bottling. CNG is bulky: even with light composite cylinders, gas is only about a third of the loaded weight of a tube module, and each trailer returns with some gas still in it.

For biogas, the weak point is methane escaping from digesters, storage and upgrading units. The IEA puts the average at about 6% of plant output, enough to erase much of the climate benefit at a badly run plant.

Sources

India faces LPG supply crisis despite VLGC transits through Hormuz Riviera Maritime Media, 2026
LPG consumption falls 8% in H1 2026 as West Asia conflict disrupts supplies (PPAC data) Business Today, 2026
Mobile Pipeline X-STORE ADR gas modules datasheet Hexagon Agility, 2025
Outlook for Biogas and Biomethane: A global geospatial assessment (WEO special report, revised May 2025) IEA, 2025