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From its humble beginnings in human history as an almost entirely overlooked substance leaking from the ground, natural gas has grown exponentially in value and use to an important energy source in modern society.

The common theory holds that natural gas, like petroleum, originates from decomposing plants and animals buried under layers of sediment and put under enormous pressure and heat. Natural gas and oil are often found in the same deposits— the deeper the deposit, the higher the temperature and the more gas, rather than oil, is present.

While natural gas, composed mostly of methane mixed with other hydrocarbons such as propane and butane, takes millions of years to form under the Earth’s surface, its potential as a source of clean-burning energy has only been usefully harnessed for the past several hundred.

Around 500 B.C., bamboo pipes were used to transport methane-rich gas leaking from the ground for use in boiling and purifying seawater in China. The eighteenth century saw the commercialization of natural gas in Britain for use in lighting, and in 1816 a less efficient and environmentally friendly artificial gas was used in Baltimore, Maryland