Natural gas is a mixture of gases, mostly methane. It is formed from the compression of decayed plant and animal matter over millions of years in deposits deep underground.
Australia has extensive reserves of natural gas located throughout the country. Deep wells are drilled to bring it to the surface where it is piped under pressure to processing plants.
Natural gas is filtered from impurities before being separated into its components such as methane, ethane, propane, butane, hydrogen sulfide and helium. The gas that ends up at your home or business is mainly methane but might contain some of these gases too.
Raw natural gas has no odour. During processing, a chemical is added to make it smell (a bit like rotten eggs). This safety measure assists in detecting gas leaks.
After processing, the gas is sent to local natural gas utilities through a complex network of underground pipes.
Customers in Canberra, and the surrounding region, receive their natural gas from high-capacity interstate and intrastate pipelines and a local network of small-diameter suburban pipe infrastructure.
Other natural gas products that may be distributed include Liquefied natural gas (LNG), Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and Compressed natural gas (CPG).