See that small ship next to the super tanker? That is a big sized oil carrier right now. The big one is a projected gas mining ship. That ship weighs 600,000 metric tons and is 480 meters long that's about 1575ft to picture this its about 5 and a quarter football fields long as in 0-0 line 5.25 of those. Imagine the Burj Dubai it is 818meters 2 of the super tankers equal the Burj Dubai. Shell is doing this to capture a chunk of the rapidly expanding market of gas. They are deciding where to make the ships but Shell probability will be a major investor. They are currently working on the plans to make the ship when they have enough sponsors. These ships will be made to reach stranded oil deposits where it is hard to build a stationary rig and where big storms occur so the ship won't have to leave. Lastly these ships won't become obsolete when the deposits dry up they can move to more deposits.My opinion is that these ships aren't just the solution they make new problems such as will they fit in the Panama canal by width and draft dept and the same for the Suez? Also will they fit in the English Channel? Otherwise these seem to help increase supply. Also their is no invincible ship they can be attacked by pirates or by a super typhoon which destroys the cranes or the underwater rig with a super wave. These will help but they should use solar and wind on it to offset the cost and carbon footprint. I think there should be a ship one mile area and have a farm on it and use the farm to feed people and use filtered water for the people/ plants their needs. This would help the world more than some Super Rig/Boat it would feed people not power cars.
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2009-10/shells-megaships-will-dwarf-everything-high-seas
