The Invisible Giant: A 2,000-Year Odyssey of Natural Gas

The history of natural gas is a long and winding road that spans over two millennia. It began in ancient times, where civilizations in China, Iran, and Greece observed mysterious flames emerging from cracks in the earth.

These 'sacred phenomena' were later used for practical purposes, such as boiling seawater to extract salt, marking one of the first recorded industrial applications of natural gas. The Greeks built temples around these gas vents, believing they provided prophetic insights.

In the 17th century, the Flemish chemist Jan Baptista van Helmont coined the term 'gas,' derived from the Greek word for chaos, after noticing an invisible substance produced during fermentation.

Natural gas production has evolved significantly over time. In the mid-20th century, pipelines became more efficient, and by 1925, the first all-welded pipeline longer than 200 miles was built between Louisiana and Texas.

The shale revolution in the 1980s and '90s transformed the industry, turning the US from an energy-hungry importer into a global powerhouse. Today, natural gas accounts for around 25% of the global primary energy mix, with shale and other tight formations accounting for close to 80% of total US dry gas production.