If you are going to work directly with natural gas, there’s a certain amount of science that is helpful to have, if not expected. This section is designed to give you some basic chemistry and physics related to processing and handling natural gas. Don’t worry, we’ll keep it simple.

Much of the information in this section of the module and the following one (Natural Gas Geology) are drawn from a few key websites, footnoted here rather than throughout the text.1,2,3,4 Check out these websites yourself—there’s lots of cool stuff there.

Natural Gas – The Simple Version

Natural gas, in its pure form might be considered an uninteresting gas—it is:

  • Colourles
  • Shapeless
  • Odourless

Quite uninteresting, except, natural gas is also:

  • Highly combustible
  • Plentiful here in British Columbia (and elsewhere in Canada)
  • Cleaner and safer than many other types of energy sources.

Natural gas is found in the ground, alone or together with oil. When first removed from the ground, natural gas is actually a mixture of gases and impurities.

  • Natural gas is primarily methane, but it can contain up to 20 percent of other gases such as ethane, propane, butane, pentane, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen
  • Some natural gas also contains hydrogen, argon, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen sulfide, as well as water and oil
  • Processing natural gas involves separating and removing other gases and impurities, leaving a mixture containing mostly methane, which is then delivered to market for residential, commercial and industrial use.

Many of the gases removed from natural gas are sold as separate products; for example: ethane, propane, butane, pentane, sulphur, and nitrogen, even argon and helium. Natural gas by-products are also used as ingredients to make a multitude of other products such as fertilizers, anti-freeze, plastics, pharmaceuticals, fabrics, paints, and more.


Farris, A. (2012). Energy BC Natural Gas. Retrieved from
http://www.energybc.ca/naturalgas.html

All Work and No Play. Retrieved from
http://www.physics4kids.com/files/motion_work.html

The Physics Classroom. Work, Energy, and Power – Lesson 1 – Basic Terminology and Concepts. Retrieved from
http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/energy/Lesson-1/Mechanical-Energy

Conventional versus Unconventional Oil and Gas. Retrieved from
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/industry/natural-gas-oil/petroleum-geoscience/pet-geol-conv-uncon