Natural Gas - Transportation
The transportation of natural gas from a gas well to our homes and businesses requires an extensive network of interconnected pipelines, designed to move natural gas quickly and effectively, sometimes over great distances. The pipeline system moves the natural gas from the point of origin to areas of high consumer demand.
There are essentially three main types of transportation pipelines: gathering pipelines, transmission pipelines, and distribution pipelines. Gathering pipelines transport raw natural gas directly from the wellhead to the gas processing plant.
From the gas processing plant, the highly pressurized natural gas is gathered into increasingly larger pipelines, almost always underground, until it reaches the large transmission pipelines where it is often transported over large distances.
From the transmission pipelines, the gas flows into a low-pressure distribution system. As a safety precaution, utility companies add an odorant to the gas (so we can smell it in the unlikely event of a leak) and then send it to us through a network of smaller pipelines.
To complete its long journey, the natural gas must go through a device called a regulator to decrease the pressure even further so it is safe to enter our homes. The gas travels through our metres to measure the amount of gas we consume. Now that it has finished its incredible journey of being extracted, gathered, processed, transported and distributed, the natural gas is finally ready to be put to good use.