Engee's Kids - The Natural Gas Story

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A fossilized trilobite.

It's time to dig a little deeper and learn about natural gas. And dig is the right thing to do because natural gas was formed deep underground millions of years ago.

Fossils, which are remains of plants and animals preserved in rock, help us trace the history of natural gas.

Natural gas is, well, natural. It's made of the remains of ancient plants and animals that ruled the Earth about 500 million years ago. No wonder natural gas is known as a fossil fuel. All we know about natural gas's history can be pieced together from fossils from that time. Just so we're clear, fossils are the remains of animals and plants that are preserved in the rocks of the Earth.

Now on with our gas story... Millions of years ago, a sea covered Canada's prairie provinces. Tons of creatures known as trilobites (they looked like tiny crabs) and small plants lived in the sea. They survived on water and energy from the sun. When trilobites and their fellow plant creatures died, they fell to the bottom of the sea. Then they were buried in layers of mud and sand. Over time, they got buried deeper and deeper.

After a while, the pressure and weight of the layers turned the mud and sand into rock. Layers of sand, dirt and mud covered these animals and plants and eventually it all changed to rock. The buried plants and animals decayed into tiny bubbles of colorless, odorless gas. The gas was trapped in the pores of the rock deep underground.

So, how does natural gas get from underground to your home? It's quite a journey. Come along for
the ride.

The first step is for scientists to find the gas. Scientists use a bunch of fancy tools and techniques to discover where the natural gas is. Once the gas is located, holes are drilled and a well is built. The gas then flows, through pipes, to a plant where the gas is cleaned. The main ingredient of natural gas is methane gas. When methane gas forms underground, other gases such as butane and propane form too. These gases are removed at the plant to make natural gas 95 per cent methane. Natural gas is a safe, reliable and clean choice for home heating, water heating and appliances.

Dawn
Natural gas dehydration towers at the Union Gas Dawn operations centre. These units remove any water or moisture from the natural gas.

Next, the natural gas is moved through underground pipes from places like Alberta (where gas is found underground) to Ontario. The pipeline from Alberta to Ontario is one of the longest in the world. To keep the gas flowing, compressors - which are like jet engines - give the gas a push to keep it moving. It takes about four days to move natural gas from Alberta to Ontario.

Once in Ontario, a special chemical called mercaptan is added to the gas. Mercaptan makes the gas smell like rotten eggs. Without mercaptan, gas has no smell at all. Adding mercaptan is a safety feature. It ensures that if gas leaks, people will smell the gas and call an expert to fix the leak.

After its long journey, the gas rests deep underground until it's needed. When you turn on your furnace or natural gas grill, the gas flows through smaller pipes into your home and provides energy to warm your home or cook your dinner.

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