ABSTRACT
This chapter covers the history of natural gas from its beginning as a manufactured gas made from coal. It is the most regulated of fossil fuels because only one natural gas pipeline can be connected to a house, just as a house can only be connected to one cable for electricity. Like electricity, deregulation/liberalization has changed the nature of regulation considerably in North America and Europe to allow market forces to influence price, but the mechanism by which market forces affect price is still well regulated. How natural gas travels from a resource in the earth to a point of consumption will be described along with growth in the international trade in natural gas and the development of nonconventional sources of methane, including fracking and coal bed methane. The future of natural gas as a replacement for coal and as a motor vehicle fuel will also be covered.
