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natural gas: Quick Facts

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Facts

Also Known As methane gas • natural methane gas

Photos and Videos

natural gas production platform
Temane, Mozambique: natural gas pipeline
Large white tanks and pipes form a compressor station on a natural gas pipeline in Texas, with a fence in the foreground and solar panels and grassy hills in the background.
Cross-sectional diagram showing three principal types of petroleum traps: an anticline trap with oil and gas beneath a cap rock, a fault trap where gas accumulates along a fault line, and a stratigraphic trap where gas is trapped in permeable limestone beneath impermeable rock layers. Labels identify geological features and fluid locations.
Diagram illustrating the hydraulic fracturing process for shale gas extraction, showing a drilling rig, underground well casings, fracking fluid injection, horizontal drilling in shale, and surface equipment for separating gas and fluids. Insets highlight the well structure, fluid injection into shale, and gas flow pathways.
Thematic map of Europe, Russia, Transcaucasia, and Central Asia highlighting major sedimentary basins in purple and marking the locations of major oil and gas fields, with triangles indicating supergiant and selected giant fields. The map shows regional seas, geographic features, and the distribution of hydrocarbon resources across northern Eurasia.
Thematic map of North America showing major sedimentary basins shaded in purple and the locations of significant oil and gas fields, including supergiant and selected giant fields marked with symbols. The map highlights key regions such as the Gulf Coast, Alberta, Permian, Williston, and Prudhoe Bay, and includes both onshore and offshore areas.
Thematic map showing the Arabian-Iranian basin region highlighted in purple, spanning parts of Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Jordan, and Syria. Major oil fields, including supergiant fields such as Al-Ghawar, Kirkuk, and Ahvaz, are marked with black shapes within the basin. Major water bodies like the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Gulf of Oman, and Caspian Sea are labeled.
Large white cylindrical tanks with attached yellow and blue pipes at a gas-compressor station in Siberia, set outdoors under a partly cloudy sky.
Map of Europe showing the extent to which each country was supplied by Russian gas in 2012, using shades of purple to indicate percentage levels, with darkest purple for 100% dependence and lighter shades for lower percentages. Orange lines mark major gas pipelines from Russia into Europe, with high dependency in Eastern and Central European countries and lower or no dependency in Western Europe and the British Isles.
How the Ormen Lange gas pipeline was engineered
The extraction and global impact of Qatar's natural gas
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