Abstract: A method for cooling and liquefying a methane-rich gas stream, such as natural gas, is set forth wherein the methane-rich gas stream is heat exchanged against a single component refrigerant, such as propane, in a closed cycle and a multicomponent refrigerant, such as lower hydrocarbons, in another closed cycle in which the single component refrigerant is used to cool the multicomponent refrigerant subsequent to the multicomponent refrigerant's compression and between stages of its compression. The additional cooling between stages of compression shifts compression load from the multicomponent refrigeration cycle to the single component refrigeration cycle. This shift of compression load allows the load on the compression drivers on both cycles to be balanced. The ability to shift compression load is beneficial in cool ambient condition regions where the two cycles could be effected differentially.