Page 28 - Handbook of Natural Gas Transmission and Processing Principles and Practices

1.2. Natural Gas History
The discovery of natural gas dates back to ancient times in the Middle East. It was considered by
ancients to be a supernatural manifestation. Noticed only when ignited, it appeared as a mysterious
fire bursting from fissures in the ground. Natural gas seeps were discovered in Iran between 6000

and 2000 BC. The practical use of natural gas dates back to the Chinese 2500 years ago, who
used bamboo pipes to collect it from natural seeps and convey it to gas-fired evaporators, where it
was used to boil ocean water for salt. Apparently, natural gas was unknown in Europe until its
discovery in England in 1659. However, since manufactured gas (coal gas) was already
commercially available, natural gas remained unpopular. In 1815, natural gas was discovered in the
United States during digging of a salt-brine well in Charleston, West Virginia. In 1821, an American
gunsmith named William Aaron Hart drilled the first natural gas well in the United States. It was
covered with a large barrel, and the gas was directed through wooden pipes that were replaced a
few years later with lead pipe. One of the earliest attempts of monetization occurred in 1824 in
Fredonia, New York, which led to the formation of the first natural gas company in the United
States, the Fredonia Gas Light Company, in 1858.
The 19th century is considered as the starting point of the gas industry. In the early 1900s, huge
amounts of natural gas were found in Texas and Oklahoma, and in the 1920s a modern seamless
steel pipe was introduced. The strength of this new pipe, which could be welded into long sections,
allowed gas to be carried under higher pressures and, thus, in greater quantities. As the technology
to create a seamless steel pipe and related equipment advanced, the size and length of pipelines
increased, as did the volumes of gas that could be transported easily and safely over many miles.

The first natural gas pipeline longer than 200 miles was built in 1925, from Louisiana to Texas.
A steady growth in the use of gas was marked in the early and mid-twentieth century. However,
it was the shortages of crude oil in the late 1960s and early 1970s that forced major industrial
nations to seek energy alternatives. Since those events, gas has become a central fossil fuel energy
source. Today, natural gas has become extremely important as a concentrated, clean fuel for home
heating and cooking and electrical power generation, and is sought after almost as much as oil.

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