NATURAL GAS Natural gas, like petroleum with which it is closely associated, is one of the major natural resources of the United States. It may occur with petroleum or independent of commercial petro leum in great natural gas fields or deposits. Composed, for the most part, of the hydrocarbons of the paraffin series, carbon diox ide, nitrogen and helium, its composition, however, varies consid erably in the different fields. Like petroleum, natural gas devel opment in the United States has been on an ascending scale. In 1938 natural gas production totalled 2,524,700,000,000 cu.ft., compared with 1,555,474,000,00o cu.ft. in 1933. The geographic production together with the amount produced is: Natural gas is produced in Canada in the following territories: Alberta, New Brunswick, Ontario and Saskatchewan.
The enormous use of natural gas for domestic and commercial purposes as a direct fuel with uses similar to that of manufac tured gas, is made possible by the piping of the gas from the fields themselves into cities close to, and even far distant from the fields. In 1937 there were over 9,000,00o domestic and com mercial natural gas customers, comparing with 6,690,700 in 1933. These domestic and commercial customers accounted for 000,00o cu.ft. in 1937, and 368,774,000,00o cu.ft. in Despite this large consumption, the great bulk of the natural gas produced goes into industrial uses. There is a tremendous
consumption in the oil and gas fields, amounting to 691,320,000, 00o cu.ft. in 1937. In carbon-black manufacture 341,085,000,000 cu.ft. were consumed; in petroleum refineries, 113,005,000,000 cu.ft. ; in electric power plants, 170,567,000,000 cu.ft. ; in Port land cement plants, 40,450,000,000 cu.ft., and in other industrial plants, cubic feet. Thus, of the total of 041,000,00o cu.ft. consumed in 1937, domestic and commercial consumption accounted for 489,234,000,000 cu.ft., and industrial consumption accounted for 1,953,807,000,00o cubic feet. The supply of natural gas comes from more than 45,000 wells, and there is an average of over 2,000 new natural gas wells drilled every year in the United States. Carrying natural gas from the fields to consuming centres is a network of natural gas pipe lines aggregating 182,320 miles. Gas that would formerly have been wasted is now held in the ground in the oil reservoir to aid in driving the oil out and thus in increasing the ultimate petroleum yield from the sand. Also, in connection with natural gas re search and conservation, a great by-product natural-gasoline in dustry has been developed, utilizing gas that formerly escaped in the air when an oil well was brought in. (L. M. F.)