How to handle natural gas from offshore rigs has alway been a huge problem.

Look at a picture of any offshore or remote producing well and you'll see a flame stack somewhere. That flame burns off the light gasses that are in the crude, liberated from solution by the change in pressure. It's not all natural gas, but that's a big part of it.

Why? Because collecting it, compressing it, and shipping it was not worth the price of return. Running pipes to offshore rigs for nat gas is costly. The technology to compress the gas preceeded the creation of ships with huge pressure tanks. The amount of natural gas that has been burned off during the petroleum age has to be staggering.

This ship is a technological marvel that solves many problems. But it also is an indication that what was once cheap is now valuable, and getting more so in the future. The investors must believe that natural gas will be an important (read relatively scarce) resource.

Hydrocarbon extraction is no longer as easy as it once was.