Natural Gas

Natural gas is the cleanest conventional fossil fuel available for energy usage. This odourless and colourless gas has a high calorific value of approximately 50,000 kilojoules per kilogram and produces almost no residue or smoke on burning.

It is composed of shorter chain hydrocarbons, with Methane (CH₄) being the primary constituent. Moreover, there are small quantities of Ethane (C₂H₆), Propane (C₃H₈), Butane (C₄H₁₀) and Pentane (C₅H₁₂) present along with Carbon dioxide, Nitrogen, Hydrogen Sulphide and Helium.

The formation of natural gas is a very long-term process, and it can take millions to tens of million or sometimes even hundreds of million years to convert the organic material present in the plants and animal remains (Hydrocarbon source) into natural gas. This process starts with the deposition of animal and plant remains rich in organic matter along with inorganic material like clay, limestone, silt, and sand to form reservoir rock. With continuous deposition, piling occurs and with the passage of time, it gets buried under different formations (Cap rocks).

Due to this continuous deposition, extreme pressure and temperature under optimum geological conditions, the organic matter transforms into hydrocarbons. In petroleum geologists’ terminology, this whole setup of organic matter along with different types of rock is known as “kitchen” while the maturation process is termed as “cooking”. The type of hydrocarbon, whether gaseous hydrocarbon (natural gas) or liquid hydrocarbon (crude oil), is dependent upon the extent and the time for which this cooking happens.

Supply and Demand:

The factors that define the demand and supply of natural gas are:

• Global economic growth
• Production and storage of natural gas from OPEC, OPEC+ and Non-OPEC Oil Producing Countries
• Price and availability of other fuels
• Duration and extent of the summer and winter seasons around the globe

Along with this, natural gas is categorised as a “bridge fuel” as many experts are considering it to ease out the transition process of entirely switching to non-conventional renewable fuels like solar and wind energy. In the reference case of the US Energy Information Administration, natural gas consumption is expected to grow by 31% by 2050.

Considering the aforementioned facts along with infrastructure and supply constraints, the demand for natural gas is expected to remain stable in the medium term. However, in the short term, due to supply variabilities, the demand can have a high level of volatility particularly during the wintertime.