Canvey Island , Essex : Some of the installations on the deck of the converted tanker Methane Pioneer , which arrived here with the first experimental load of liquid natural gas to Britain . Methane Pioneer left the Gulf of Mexico on 31 January with 2,000 tons of liquid natural gas from one of the Gulf Coast oilfields . Reduced in volume to 1/600th of the space required in gaseous form , it was loaded into special insulated tanks on the ship . The temperature of the liquid gas is in the region of minus 260 degrees F . The gas will be stored in special containers of the North Thames Gas Board , and reformed for domestic use . 20 February 1959