Natural gas as a fossil fuel can be found in fields and coal beds across the globe. It can also be produced by chemically treating coal or from the anaerobic decay of organic materials - biogas - from swamps, marshes, landfills, and sewer. Natural gas use is not confined to modern origins - and from the flame of the Oracle of Delphi to bamboo pipelines built in ancient China, natural gas has proved a source of creative inspiration as well as valuable energy. Britain and the United States used natural gas for lights through the late eighteenth century and the first natural gas-specific well was dug in the early nineteenth century. Unrefined natural gas is primarily composed of methane - up to 90 percent in some cases - but can also contain ethane, propane, butane, carbon dioxide, oxygen or nitrogen. Nearly pure methane is considered "dry" natural gas while the presence of hydrocarbons, as the name implies, means it is "wet". In processing, mercaptan is added to natural gas to give it the sulfur-like odor for safety in leak detection. Gas is collected in storage tanks and added to pipelines when required.
Natural gas can also be chilled and stored as a liquid for transport and export. This Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) is turned back into gas and added to pipelines at destination. The following chart displays the three largest natural gas producers in terms of gross production:
The top five exporters are illustrated as follows:
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