Fossil Energy Study Guide: Natural Gas

Natural gas is, in many ways, the ideal fossil fuel. It is clean, easy to transport, and
convenient to use. Industrial users use almost half of the gas produced in the United
States. A large portion is also used in homes for heating, lighting, and cooking.

WHERE IS NATURAL GAS FOUND?

Like petroleum, natural gas can be found

throughout the world. It is estimated that there
are still vast amounts of natural gas left in the
ground. However, it is very difficult to estimate
how much natural gas is still underground.
New technologies are helping to make the
process a little easier and more accurate.
Recent estimates show that most of the
world’s natural gas reserves are located in
the Middle East, Europe, and the former
U.S.S.R., with these reserves making up
nearly 75 percent of total worldwide reserves.
Roughly 16 percent of the reserves are located
in Africa and Asia and another 4 percent
in Central and South America. The United
States makes up almost 4 percent.
While the United States may only have
a small percentage of natural gas when
compared to worldwide reserves, there is
still plenty in the country to last for at least Natural Gas Formations
another 60 years or longer, as a lot of gas may These are the areas of the United States and Canada where natural gas formations
are found.
be undiscovered or unrecoverable with today’s
technologies. Natural gas is produced in 32
USES FOR NATURAL GAS
states. The top producing states are Texas, Oklahoma, New
Mexico, Wyoming, and Louisiana, which produce more For many years, natural gas was considered worthless
than 50 percent of U.S. natural gas. and was discarded by being burned in giant flares. But
it wasn’t long before it was discovered as a useful energy
source. Today, approximately 24 percent of the energy
consumption of the United States comes from natural gas.
More than one-half of the homes in the country use natural
gas as their main heating fuel. Natural gas is a colorless,
shapeless, and odorless gas. Because it has no odor, gas

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companies add a chemical to it that smells similar to rotten Most now need some type of pumping system to extract
eggs. This way you can tell if there is a gas leak in your house. the gas still trapped in the underground formation.
Natural gas is also an essential raw material for many One of the most common is the “horse head” pump, which
common products, including paints, fertilizers, plastics, rocks up and down to lift a rod in and out of a well bore,
antifreeze, and medicine. We also get propane—a fuel often bringing gas and oil to the surface.
used in many barbecue grills—when we process natural gas. Often the flow of gas through a reservoir can be improved
by creating tiny cracks in the rock, called fractures, that
DRILLING FOR NATURAL GAS
serve as open pathways for the gas to flow. In a technique
The exploration for and production of natural gas is called “hydraulic fracturing,” drillers force high pressure
very similar to that of petroleum. In fact, natural gas is fluids (like water) into a formation to crack the rock. A
commonly found in the same reservoirs as petroleum. “propping agent,” like sand or tiny glass beads, is added to
Because natural gas is lighter, it is often found on top the fluid to prop open the fractures when the pressure is
of the oil. And like oil, some natural gas flows freely to decreased.
wells because of the natural pressure of the underground Natural gas can be found in a variety of different
reservoir forces the gas through the reservoir rocks. These underground formations, including: shale formations;
types of gas wells require only a “Christmas tree,” which sandstone beds; and coal seams. Some of these formations
is a series of pipes and valves on the surface that are used are more difficult and more expensive to produce than
to control the flow of gas. Only a small number of these others, but they hold the potential for vastly increasing the
free-flowing gas formations still exist in the U.S. gas fields. nation’s available gas supply.
Recent research is exploring how to obtain and use
gas from these sources. Some of the work has been in
Devonian shales, which are rock formations of organic
rich clay where gas has been trapped. Dating back nearly
350 million years (to the Devonian Period), these black or
brownish shales were formed from sediments deposited in
the basins of inland seas during the erosion that formed
the Appalachian Mountains.
Other sources of gas include “tight sand lenses.” These
deposits are called “tight” because the holes that hold the gas
in the sandstone are very small. It is hard for the gas to flow
through these tiny spaces. To get the gas out, drillers must
first crack the dense rock structure to create ribbon-thin
passageways through which the gas can flow.
Coalbed methane gas that is found in all coal deposits was
once regarded as only a safety hazard to miners but now, due
Natural gas to research, is viewed as a valuable potential source of gas.
from underground formations flows through pipes on the surface
sometimes called a “Christmas Tree.”

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 Fossil Energy Study Guide: Natural Gas

STORAGE AND DELIVERY OF

NATURAL GAS

Once natural gas is produced from underground rock

formations, it is sent by pipelines to storage facilities and
then on to the end user. The United States has a vast
pipeline network that transports gas to and from nearly
any location in the lower 48 states. There are more than
210 natural gas pipeline systems, using more than 300,000
miles of interstate and intrastate transmission pipelines.
There are more than 1,400 compressor stations that
maintain pressure on the natural gas to keep it moving
through the system. There are more than 400 underground
natural gas storage facilities that can hold the gas until
it is needed back in the system for delivery to the more
than 11,000 delivery points, 5,000 receipt points, and Pipelines
1,400 interconnection points that help transfer the gas The United States has a vast pipeline network that transports gas to
and from nearly any location in the lower 48 states.
throughout the country.

HISTORY OF NATURAL GAS

1800s: Natural gas is used almost exclusively

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as fuel for lamps, including street lamps.
1821: In Fredonia, New York, William A. Hart
drills a 27-foot-deep well in an effort to get a
larger flow of gas from a surface seepage of
natural gas, creating the first well intentionally
drilled to obtain natural gas.
100 to 125 A.D.

1940s, 1950S to 1960S

1885: Robert Bunsen invents a burner that mixes

air with natural gas. The “Bunsen Burner” showed how Today:
gas could be used to provide heat for cooking and The U.S. pipeline network,
warming buildings. if laid out end-to-end,
would stretch to the moon
1890s: Cities begin converting street lamps to and back twice!
electricity, leading gas producers to search out new
100 to 125 A.D.: markets for their product.
Greek historian Plutarch
00s
1800s
1800 s

writes about the “eternal 1891: The first natural gas pipeline is constructed,
flames” in what is present- carrying gas from fields in central Indiana through 120
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day Iraq. miles of pipelines into Chicago. 1950s – 1960S: The

These flames may have been United States begins building its
natural gas escaping from pipeline network. Thousands of
cracks in the ground and miles of pipelines are constructed
ignited by lightning. during this period.
1940s: After World War II,
the construction of natural gas
pipelines expands throughout the
United States as improvements in
metals, welding techniques, and pipe
making make pipeline construction
more economically attractive.

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MEETING OUR FUTURE NATURAL GAS

NEEDS

Natural gas is an important energy source for the U.S.

economy, providing 24 percent of all energy used in our
Nation’s diverse energy portfolio. A reliable and efficient
energy source, natural gas is also the least carbon-intensive
of the fossil fuels.
Historically, the United States has produced much of the
natural gas it has consumed, with the balance imported
primarily from Canada through pipelines. The total U.S.
natural gas consumption is expected to increase from
about 23 trillion cubic feet today to 24 trillion cubic feet
in 2035.

METHANE HYDRATE
Methane
Natural gas is made up mainly of the chemical methane, a simple
Production of domestic conventional and unconventional
compound that has a carbon atom surrounded by four hydrogen natural gas cannot keep pace with demand growth. The
atoms. Methane is highly flammable and burns almost completely, development of new, cost-effective resources such as
with no ash and very little air pollution.
methane hydrate can play a major role in moderating price
increases and ensuring adequate future supplies of natural
gas for American consumers.
Methane hydrate is a cage-like lattice of ice inside of
which are trapped molecules of methane, the chief
component of natural gas. If methane hydrate is either
warmed or depressurized, it will revert back to water and
natural gas. When brought to the earth’s surface, one cubic
meter of gas hydrate releases 164 cubic meters of natural
gas. Hydrate deposits may be several hundred meters thick
and generally occur in two types of settings: under Arctic
permafrost, and beneath the ocean floor. Methane that
forms hydrate can be both biogenic, created by biological
activity in sediments, and thermogenic, created by
geological processes deeper within the earth.
While global estimates vary considerably, the energy
content of methane occurring in hydrate form is immense,
possibly exceeding the combined energy content of all other
Methane Hydrate known fossil fuels. However, future production volumes are
is a cage-like lattice of ice inside of which are trapped molecules of speculative because methane production from hydrate has
methane, the chief component of natural gas. not been documented beyond small-scale field experiments.

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LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS

Another way to ensure the United States has enough

natural gas to meet demands is through importing gas
from foreign countries. Currently, most of the demand
for natural gas in the United States is met with domestic
production and imports via pipeline from Canada.
However, a small but growing percentage of gas supplies is
imported and received as liquefied natural gas (LNG). A
significant portion of the world’s natural gas resources are
considered “stranded” because they are located far from
any market. Transportation of LNG by ship is one method
to bring this stranded gas to the consumer.
LNG is produced by taking natural gas from a production
field, removing impurities, and liquefying the natural gas. In
the liquefaction process, the gas is cooled to a temperature
of approximately -260 degrees F at ambient pressure. The
condensed liquid form of natural gas takes up 600 times less
space than natural gas. The LNG is loaded onto double-
hulled ships which are used for both safety and insulating
purposes. Once the ship arrives at the receiving port, the
LNG is typically off-loaded into well-insulated storage LNG Tanker
tanks. Regasification is used to convert the LNG back into A LNG tanker is docked at ConocoPhillips’ first LNG facility in
its gas form, which enters the domestic pipeline distribution Kenai, Alaska.
system and is ultimately delivered to the end-user.
In 2008, the United States imported 352 billion cubic
feet (Bcf ) of LNG from a variety of exporting countries
but primarily from Trinidad and Tobago. There are
currently nine LNG import terminals located along the
Atlantic and Gulf coasts. The mainland terminals are:
Everett, Massachusetts; Cove Point, Maryland; Elba
Island, Georgia; Freeport, Texas; Sabine Pass, Louisiana;
Cameron, Louisiana; and Lake Charles, Louisiana. The
offshore terminals are Gulf Gateway Energy Bridge in the
Gulf of Mexico and Northeast Gateway, located offshore
Boston. As of July 2009, the government reported 34 new
or expanded facilities that have been approved or proposed
to serve U.S. markets.

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