The story of natural gas is an ancient one. It all started millions of years ago when the remains of plants and animals (called organic material) were buried beneath the earth's surface under layers of sand and rock. The layers continues to build up and the organic materials were buried and deeper.

Very slowly - over millions of years to be exact! - increasing temperature, pressure and micro-organisms started to act on the trapped fossil remains. Just like food in a pressure cooker, the organic material was slowly 'cooked', turning them into fossil fuels of various forms such as coal (solid), oil (liquid) and natural gas (gaseous). Oil forms first, then as the temperature and pressure increase at greater depth gas begins to form.

Natural gas is often found inside the earth's crust together with oil (petroleum). Once the area where the crude oil and gas is established - usually after seismic surveys and environmental assessments are performed - a drilling facility is built at the location. Reaching the gas deposits requires drilling through layers of sand, silt and rock. he raw gas is then pumped from underground to the surface and into pipelines.