page_title: Natural gas
section_title: Shale gas
hierarchical_section_title: Natural gas / Sources / Shale gas
caption_attribution_description: English: Schematic cross-section of the subsurface illustrating types of natural gas deposits
context_page_description: Natural gas, is a naturally occurring hydrocarbon gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, but commonly including varying amounts of other higher alkanes, and sometimes a small percentage of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide, or helium. It is formed when layers of decomposing plant and animal matter are exposed to intense heat and pressure under the surface of the Earth over millions of years. The energy that the plants originally obtained from the sun is stored in the form of chemical bonds in the gas.
  Natural gas is a non-renewable hydrocarbon used as a source of energy for heating, cooking, and electricity generation. It is also used as a fuel for vehicles and as a chemical feedstock in the manufacture of plastics and other commercially important organic chemicals.
  Although not as damaging as coal natural gas is a major cause of climate change; it is a greenhouse gas itself, and creates carbon dioxide during oxidation. Natural gas can be used in place of coal, for example, to generate electricity, which may lower net carbon dioxide emissions in absence of carbon capture.
context_section_description: Shale gas is natural gas produced from shale. Because shale has matrix permeability too low to allow gas to flow in economical quantities, shale gas wells depend on fractures to allow the gas to flow. Early shale gas wells depended on natural fractures through which gas flowed; almost all shale gas wells today require fractures artificially created by hydraulic fracturing. Since 2000, shale gas has become a major source of natural gas in the United States and Canada. Because of increased shale gas production the United States was in 2014 the number one natural gas producer in the world. Following the increased production in the United States, shale gas exploration is beginning in countries such as Poland, China, and South Africa.
caption: The location of shale gas compared to other types of gas deposits
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