Originally, when crude oil was extracted, natural gas was created as a BYPRODUCT, or “gas associate.” Often, it was initially vented or FLARED off as a waste product, or reinjected into the petroleum well. But over TIME uses for natural gas, and the infrastructure to capture and transport it, were developed, allowing natural gas to become an increasingly important fuel source for residential and commercial cooking and heating, power plants, and industrial PROCESSES.

By the mid-twentieth century, a strong domestic natural gas industry had developed in the United States, PRODUCING gas from large consolidated underground reserves independent from crude oil production. More recently, gas producers have begun producing gas from more dispersed sources in shale and other porous rock formations through the process of hydraulic fracturing.

Originally, when crude oil was extracted, natural gas was created as a byproduct, or “gas associate.” Often, it was initially vented or flared off as a waste product, or reinjected into the petroleum well. But over time uses for natural gas, and the infrastructure to capture and transport it, were developed, allowing natural gas to become an increasingly important fuel source for residential and commercial cooking and heating, power plants, and industrial processes.

By the mid-twentieth century, a strong domestic natural gas industry had developed in the United States, producing gas from large consolidated underground reserves independent from crude oil production. More recently, gas producers have begun producing gas from more dispersed sources in shale and other porous rock formations through the process of hydraulic fracturing.