Fossil Energy Study Guide: Natural Gas

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Fossil Energy Study Guide: Natural GasNatural gas is, in many ways, the ideal fossil fuel. It is clean, easy to transport, andconvenient to use. Industrial users use almost half of the gas produced in the UnitedStates. A large portion is also used in homes for heating, lighting, and cooking.WHERE IS NATURAL GAS FOUND?Like petroleum, natural gas can be foundthroughout the world. It is estimated that thereare still vast amounts of natural gas left in theground. However, it is very difficult to estimatehow much natural gas is still underground.New technologies are helping to make theprocess a little easier and more accurate.Recent estimates show that most of theworld’s natural gas reserves are located inthe Middle East, Europe, and the formerU.S.S.R., with these reserves making upnearly 75 percent of total worldwide reserves.Roughly 16 percent of the reserves are locatedin Africa and Asia and another 4 percentin Central and South America. The UnitedStates makes up almost 4 percent.While the United States may only havea small percentage of natural gas whencompared to worldwide reserves, there isNatural Gas Formationsstill plenty in the country to last for at leastThese are the areas of the United States and Canada where natural gas formationsanother 60 years or longer, as a lot of gas mayare found.be undiscovered or unrecoverable with today’stechnologies. Natural gas is produced in 32USES FOR NATURAL GASstates. The top producing states are Texas, Oklahoma, NewMexico, Wyoming, and Louisiana, which produce moreFor many years, natural gas was considered worthlessthan 50 percent of U.S. natural gas.and was discarded by being burned in giant flares. Butit wasn’t long before it was discovered as a useful energysource. Today, approximately 24 percent of the energyconsumption of the United States comes from natural gas.More than one-half of the homes in the country use naturalgas as their main heating fuel. Natural gas is a colorless,shapeless, and odorless gas. Because it has no odor, gas1Natural Gas

Fossil Energy Study Guide: Natural Gascompanies add a chemical to it that smells similar to rotteneggs. This way you can tell if there is a gas leak in your house.Most now need some type of pumping system to extractthe gas still trapped in the underground formation.Natural gas is also an essential raw material for manycommon products, including paints, fertilizers, plastics,antifreeze, and medicine. We also get propane—a fuel oftenused in many barbecue grills—when we process natural gas.One of the most common is the “horse head” pump, whichrocks up and down to lift a rod in and out of a well bore,bringing gas and oil to the surface.DRILLING FOR NATURAL GASThe exploration for and production of natural gas isvery similar to that of petroleum. In fact, natural gas iscommonly found in the same reservoirs as petroleum.Because natural gas is lighter, it is often found on topof the oil. And like oil, some natural gas flows freely towells because of the natural pressure of the undergroundreservoir forces the gas through the reservoir rocks. Thesetypes of gas wells require only a “Christmas tree,” whichis a series of pipes and valves on the surface that are usedto control the flow of gas. Only a small number of thesefree-flowing gas formations still exist in the U.S. gas fields.Often the flow of gas through a reservoir can be improvedby creating tiny cracks in the rock, called fractures, thatserve as open pathways for the gas to flow. In a techniquecalled “hydraulic fracturing,” drillers force high pressurefluids (like water) into a formation to crack the rock. A“propping agent,” like sand or tiny glass beads, is added tothe fluid to prop open the fractures when the pressure isdecreased.Natural gas can be found in a variety of differentunderground formations, including: shale formations;sandstone beds; and coal seams. Some of these formationsare more difficult and more expensive to produce thanothers, but they hold the potential for vastly increasing thenation’s available gas supply.Recent research is exploring how to obtain and usegas from these sources. Some of the work has been inDevonian shales, which are rock formations of organicrich clay where gas has been trapped. Dating back nearly350 million years (to the Devonian Period), these black orbrownish shales were formed from sediments deposited inthe basins of inland seas during the erosion that formedthe Appalachian Mountains.Other sources of gas include “tight sand lenses.” Thesedeposits are called “tight” because the holes that hold the gasin the sandstone are very small. It is hard for the gas to flowthrough these tiny spaces. To get the gas out, drillers mustfirst crack the dense rock structure to create ribbon-thinpassageways through which the gas can flow.Natural gasfrom underground formations flows through pipes on the surfacesometimes called a “Christmas Tree.”2Natural GasCoalbed methane gas that is found in all coal deposits wasonce regarded as only a safety hazard to miners but now, dueto research, is viewed as a valuable potential source of gas.

Fossil Energy Study Guide: Natural GasSTORAGE AND DELIVERY OFNATURAL GASOnce natural gas is produced from underground rockformations, it is sent by pipelines to storage facilities andthen on to the end user. The United States has a vastpipeline network that transports gas to and from nearlyany location in the lower 48 states. There are more than210 natural gas pipeline systems, using more than 300,000miles of interstate and intrastate transmission pipelines.There are more than 1,400 compressor stations thatmaintain pressure on the natural gas to keep it movingthrough the system. There are more than 400 undergroundnatural gas storage facilities that can hold the gas untilit is needed back in the system for delivery to the morethan 11,000 delivery points, 5,000 receipt points, and1,400 interconnection points that help transfer the gasthroughout the country.PipelinesThe United States has a vast pipeline network that transports gas toand from nearly any location in the lower 48 states.HISTORY OF NATURAL GAS1800s: Natural gas is used almost exclusively1as fuel for lamps, including street lamps.1821: In Fredonia, New York, William A. Hart3air with natural gas. The “Bunsen Burner” showed howgas could be used to provide heat for cooking andwarming buildings.1890s: Cities begin converting street lamps toelectricity, leading gas producers to search out newmarkets for their product.100 to 125 A.D.:Greek historian Plutarchwrites about the “eternalflames” in what is presentday Iraq.These flames may have beennatural gas escaping fromcracks in the ground andignited by lightning.Natural Gas1891: The first natural gas pipeline is constructed,carrying gas from fields in central Indiana through 120miles of pipelines into Chicago.1940s, 1950S to 1960S1885: Robert Bunsen invents a burner that mixes1800s18180000ss100 to 125 A.D.drills a 27-foot-deep well in an effort to get alarger flow of gas from a surface seepage ofnatural gas, creating the first well intentionallydrilled to obtain natural gas.Today:The U.S. pipeline network,if laid out end-to-end,would stretch to the moonand back twice!1950s – 1960S: TheUnited States begins building itspipeline network. Thousands ofmiles of pipelines are constructedduring this period.1940s: After World War II,the construction of natural gaspipelines expands throughout theUnited States as improvements inmetals, welding techniques, and pipemaking make pipeline constructionmore economically attractive.

Fossil Energy Study Guide: Natural GasMEETING OUR FUTURE NATURAL GASNEEDSNatural gas is an important energy source for the U.S.economy, providing 24 percent of all energy used in ourNation’s diverse energy portfolio. A reliable and efficientenergy source, natural gas is also the least carbon-intensiveof the fossil fuels.Historically, the United States has produced much of thenatural gas it has consumed, with the balance importedprimarily from Canada through pipelines. The total U.S.natural gas consumption is expected to increase fromabout 23 trillion cubic feet today to 24 trillion cubic feetin 2035.METHANE HYDRATEMethaneNatural gas is made up mainly of the chemical methane, a simplecompound that has a carbon atom surrounded by four hydrogenatoms. Methane is highly flammable and burns almost completely,with no ash and very little air pollution.Production of domestic conventional and unconventionalnatural gas cannot keep pace with demand growth. Thedevelopment of new, cost-effective resources such asmethane hydrate can play a major role in moderating priceincreases and ensuring adequate future supplies of naturalgas for American consumers.Methane hydrate is a cage-like lattice of ice inside ofwhich are trapped molecules of methane, the chiefcomponent of natural gas. If methane hydrate is eitherwarmed or depressurized, it will revert back to water andnatural gas. When brought to the earth’s surface, one cubicmeter of gas hydrate releases 164 cubic meters of naturalgas. Hydrate deposits may be several hundred meters thickand generally occur in two types of settings: under Arcticpermafrost, and beneath the ocean floor. Methane thatforms hydrate can be both biogenic, created by biologicalactivity in sediments, and thermogenic, created bygeological processes deeper within the earth.Methane Hydrateis a cage-like lattice of ice inside of which are trapped molecules ofmethane, the chief component of natural gas.4Natural GasWhile global estimates vary considerably, the energycontent of methane occurring in hydrate form is immense,possibly exceeding the combined energy content of all otherknown fossil fuels. However, future production volumes arespeculative because methane production from hydrate hasnot been documented beyond small-scale field experiments.

Fossil Energy Study Guide: Natural GasLIQUEFIED NATURAL GASAnother way to ensure the United States has enoughnatural gas to meet demands is through importing gasfrom foreign countries. Currently, most of the demandfor natural gas in the United States is met with domesticproduction and imports via pipeline from Canada.However, a small but growing percentage of gas supplies isimported and received as liquefied natural gas (LNG). Asignificant portion of the world’s natural gas resources areconsidered “stranded” because they are located far fromany market. Transportation of LNG by ship is one methodto bring this stranded gas to the consumer.LNG is produced by taking natural gas from a productionfield, removing impurities, and liquefying the natural gas. Inthe liquefaction process, the gas is cooled to a temperatureof approximately -260 degrees F at ambient pressure. Thecondensed liquid form of natural gas takes up 600 times lessspace than natural gas. The LNG is loaded onto doublehulled ships which are used for both safety and insulatingpurposes. Once the ship arrives at the receiving port, theLNG is typically off-loaded into well-insulated storagetanks. Regasification is used to convert the LNG back intoits gas form, which enters the domestic pipeline distributionsystem and is ultimately delivered to the end-user.In 2008, the United States imported 352 billion cubicfeet (Bcf ) of LNG from a variety of exporting countriesbut primarily from Trinidad and Tobago. There arecurrently nine LNG import terminals located along theAtlantic and Gulf coasts. The mainland terminals are:Everett, Massachusetts; Cove Point, Maryland; ElbaIsland, Georgia; Freeport, Texas; Sabine Pass, Louisiana;Cameron, Louisiana; and Lake Charles, Louisiana. Theoffshore terminals are Gulf Gateway Energy Bridge in theGulf of Mexico and Northeast Gateway, located offshoreBoston. As of July 2009, the government reported 34 newor expanded facilities that have been approved or proposedto serve U.S. markets.5Natural GasLNG TankerA LNG tanker is docked at ConocoPhillips’ first LNG facility inKenai, Alaska.

Fossil Energy Study Guide: Natural Gas 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 effi cient energy source, natural ga

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