Of the most commonly

used hydrocarbon fuels, natural gas has the highest

amount of energy per unit mass. But, being a gas, natural gas also has the
lowest amount of energy per unit volume, when compared to the other common fuels.
The remainder of which are liquids. For example, you would need a thousand
liters of natural gas to get the same amount of energy contained
in a liter of diesel. A liter being a little more
than a quarter of a gallon. The high energy density of liquid
fuels like diesel make them much more attractive for use in mobile
engines with limited size fuel tanks, such as used by cars,
trucks, planes, and trains. A higher energy density also
makes liquid fuels easier and cheaper to move and store. The most economic way to
move
natural gas is via pipeline. The journey begins along
gathering pipelines, through which raw gas is moved from
wells to a natural gas processing plant. The processed gas,
essentially pure methane, is then shipped from the processing
plant to natural gas customers. Via large diameter,
transmission pipelines. Compressor stations located at regular
intervals along the transmission pipelines, repressurize the gas and
keep pushing it downstream. Where natural gas is transferred from
one transmission line to another, or when production of natural
gas outpaces consumption. Natural gas will be temporarily stored. Relatively small
volumes of natural gas
are stored in surface storage tanks, such as seen in
the background of this photo. Large volumes are injected
underground through wells such as the one in the foreground of the photo.
Underground storage sites
in the US are located pretty much throughout the country. Some 86% of the total
volume of these
sites is in depleted gas fields. Another 10% of the volume is in
underground saltwater aquifers. And the final 4% is in
hollowed out salt domes. Large, sophisticated industrial
consumers of natural gas, such as electric power plants, tap gas
directly from the transmission pipelines. The remainder of the gas is
shipped to natural gas utilities, which take charge of it at a receiving
point known as the city gate. Here the utility adds a small
amount of sour smelling chemical to the naturally odorless gas, and
order to help users quickly recognize and locate a gas leak before
any explosion might occur. The utility then sends the gas onto its
commercial and residential customers, through a system of smaller
diameter distribution pipelines. These in turn feed even smaller
gas pipelines that enter each customer's building, where the gas
is used primarily for space and water heating, as well as cooking. The gas meter
outside the building
records the customer's consumption. Like the midstream sector for the oil
industry, the scale of the midstream sector for the natural gas
industry in the US is enormous. Here is a map that current natural
gas plays in the contiguous US. Gas wells have been drilled
throughout most of these plays. The gas is shipped to
nearby processing plants, locations of which are indicated by
the greyish blue squares on the map. The processed gas coming out of
the plants may be temporarily stored at points indicated by the white
squares on the map, many of which are hidden below
the processing plant symbols. The processed gas is shipped
to industrial customers and natural gas utilities via intrastate and
interstate pipelines. The utilities in turn,
such as the utilities for the Los Angeles area in California,
move the gas through city gates into distribution pipelines that supply
commercial and residential customers. In sum, total storage capacity for processed
natural gas in the US is
greater than 9 trillion cubic feet, or about a third of the nation's total annual
consumption of natural gas in 2013. Much more impressive is the total length
of all the gathering transmission and distribution natural gas
pipelines in the US. Which exceeds 1.5 million miles. That's a distance greater
than three round
trips between the Earth and the moon.