Natural Ethane extracted from gas can also produce ethylene, which is used in manufacturing plastics and other synthentic materials. O ne of the main benefits of natural gas is that it is clean-burning, and as a result, less harmful to the environment than coal or oil. Because of this, many power companies use natural gas as a fuel for the generation of electricity. Also, using natural gas in cars and other vehicles reduce pollution from the exhaust from gasoline and diesel fuel. Origin N atural gas reserves can be found all over the world, both on land and beneath the ocean floor.
Natural gas is a hydrocarbon, like oil.
Much like oil, it is a fossil fuel formed over millions of years beneath the Earth's crust. N atural gas is formed beneath the earth by a complex and lengthy series of processes. The first step is the collection of organic material on the ocean floor. Even 150 million years ago, single-celled creatures, like plankton, existed beneath the waves. At that point in the Earth's history, rivers flowing out from early North America into the ocean were carrying heavy loads of silt and mud, known as sediment, and dead leaves and stems of plants.