Natural gas and its advantages
Natural gas is the cleanest-burning hydrocarbon. It is abundant and versatile, helping meet growing demand for energy globally, and able to partner with renewable energy sources. We cool natural gas to liquid for easy shipping to energy-hungry places, and we convert it to make lower-emission fuels and other products.
Why is natural gas good?
Title: {Natural Gas is Good for Me}
Duration {0.54}
Description
{We use energy every day from the moment we wake up to our alarm clocks the minutes before we fall asleep. Learn how natural gas is supporting our world's growing demand for energy in a way that is reliable and sustainable. This video is presented as Kinetic Typography, meaning text on screen replicates what is said in the voice over in interesting and illustrative ways.}
[Voice Over]
{Each day, you wake up. You use the phone, the computer, transport. You use energy.}
[Animated Sequence]
{‘Each Day’ is displayed on a stylized calendar,
‘You Wake up’ is on the face of a digital alarm clock
‘You use the phone’ is swiped by a finger across a phone
‘The Computer’ is displayed on a laptop screen’
‘Transport’ is written on the side of a bus that moves to the right.
‘You Use Energy’ is displayed with cartoon lightning bolts to its sides.}
[Voice Over]
{And as the world uses more energy, we need to provide power that is available and environmentally sustainable.}
[Animated Sequence]
{‘And as the world uses more energy’ is displayed over a globe with cartoon lightning bolts in the background
‘we need to provide power’ is displayed as hands enter the frame from the bottom
‘that is available and environmentally sustainable’ is displayed in the center of the page as pipes, plants and blue flames animate around it.}
[Voice Over]
{Producing one-tenth of the air pollutants as coal when burnt to generate electricity, natural gas can provide positive environmental and health benefits to our cities and towns.}
[Animated sequence]
{‘Producing one-tenth of the air pollutants as coal when burnt to generate electricity’ is displayed, a lightbulb is added to the end of ‘electricity’
‘natural gas’ is displayed down the side of cooling towers on a natural gas plant, a background of syk and tress with pipes at the bottom.
‘can provide positive environmental’ is displayed to the side of the gas plant
‘and health benefits’ rises up on the left inside a white medical cross.
‘to our cities and towns’ text is displayed on the right. Buildings and houses rise up from the background. }
[Voice Over]
{These benefits, coupled with natural gas’ nearly global reach, ensures that natural gas can play a key role in the energy mix, regardless of where you live.}
[Animated Sequence]
{‘These benefits’ displays with a tick above the text.
‘coupled with natural gas’ nearly global reach’ displays above an ocean with LNG tankers floating on it. ‘Natural Gas’ is written on the side of the main, largest tanker.
‘ensures that natural gas’ displays over a background of pipes, and a subtle map of the United States ‘Gas’ is accompanied by a blue flame
‘can play a key role in the energy mix’, displays ‘Key’ is written over a picture of a Key.
‘Regardless of where you live.’ The shot pulls back to display a globe with pipes covering it. The words display on the globe, and the LNG Tankers move around it.}
[Voice Over]
{Renewable energy is crucial to our future. But as they develop, and when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine, natural gas can keep our lives powered reliably and sustainably.}
[Animated Sequence]
{‘Renewable energy is crucial to our future’ displays over a blue sky and green field. Solar panels and a bright sun to the right, wind turbines to the left.
‘But as they develop’ is displayed over a large cog in the middle of the field.
‘when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine’ is written in the center of the screen. A cloud moves in front of the sun and the wind turbines stop spinning.
‘natural gas can keep our lives’ displays, Gas, accompanied with a blue flame, and ‘our lives’ with hands either side.
‘powered reliably’ is pictured with the blue gas flame above it and arrows circling the word.
‘and sustainably’ is pictured with leaves around the word.}
Natural gas makes up more than half of our total production. We explore for it and produce it both on land and offshore. Shell is one of the world’s leading suppliers of natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Global demand for gas is on the rise. By 2030, we expect it to increase by 40% from its 2014 level.
What is natural gas and what is it used for?
Natural gas is the lowest-carbon hydrocarbon, odourless, colourless and non-toxic. It provides warmth for cooking and heating, and it fuels power stations that provide electricity to homes and businesses.
It also fuels many industrial processes that produce materials and goods ranging from glass to clothing, and it is an important ingredient in products such as paints and plastics.
Shell turns gas into cleaner-burning fuels and other products at our gas-to-liquids plants. We also cool it to -162ºC (-260ºF), making it into a liquid which is easy to ship to energy-hungry places around the world. We offer liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a lower-emission fuel for ships, trucks, buses and trains.
We are working to deliver new supplies of LNG to help meet future demand. For example, we are building the largest floating LNG production facility in the world, Prelude FLNG. It will allow us to access gas fields off the coast of Australia that would otherwise be too costly or difficult to develop, and turn natural gas into LNG to be shipped overseas.
Advantages of natural gas
Natural gas is abundant. If consumption remained at present levels, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates there are enough recoverable resources to last around 230 years.
It is versatile. A gas-fired power station takes much less time to start and stop than a coal-fired plant. This flexibility makes it a good partner to renewable sources of energy such as solar and wind, which are only available when the sun shines and the wind blows.
Gas is the cleanest-burning hydrocarbon, producing around half the carbon dioxide (CO2) and just one tenth of the air pollutants of coal when burnt to generate electricity. There is enormous potential to reduce near-term CO2 emissions and air pollution by using gas instead of coal.
Gas is now so widely available through LNG, that it can help countries deal with short-term supply disruptions. After the Fukushima disaster, Japan shut down its nuclear reactors and relied on LNG to make up much of its lost electricity supply.
In some cases, it is cheaper to produce gas than coal. The most efficient gas-fired plant has investment costs of $1,100 per kilowatt, according to the IEA, compared with $3,700 for the most efficient coal-fired plant.
Gas-fired power becomes more competitive again when long-term costs associated with climate change and the impact of air pollution, both on people and the environment, are included.
Gas also has a growing number of uses, including the use of LNG as a lower-emission alternative to diesel and heavy fuel oil in transport.
More in Energy and Innovation
The energy future
We are using our know-how, technology and innovation to deliver more and cleaner energy for the world's growing population.
Overcoming technology challenges
We develop innovative technologies to find and safely unlock more, and affordable, energy from ever harder-to-reach places.