What is natural gas and what are its advantages?

Natural gas is odourless, colourless and non-toxic. It provides warmth for cooking and heating, and it fuels power stations that provide electricity to homes and businesses. It also fuels many industrial processes that produce materials and goods ranging from glass to clothing, and it is an important ingredient in products such as paints and plastics. 

Natural gas is the cleanest-burning hydrocarbon, producing around half the carbon dioxide (CO2) and just one tenth of the air pollutants of coal when burnt to generate electricity. There is enormous potential to reduce near-term CO2 emissions and air pollution by using gas instead of coal.

Shell turns gas into cleaner-burning fuels and other products at our gas-to-liquids plants. We also cool it to -162ºC (-260ºF), making it into a liquid which is easy to ship around the world. We offer liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a lower-emission fuel for ships, trucks, buses and trains.

INSIDE THIS SECTION

Liquefied natural gas (LNG)

We cool natural gas to make a liquid, shrinking its volume 600 times for easy shipping to distant markets.

LNG Canada

Shell is part of a joint venture comprised of five global energy companies building the LNG Canada export facility, one of the largest energy investments in Canadian history.

Groundbirch

Produces methane, natural gas liquids and condensate and could provide Shell’s equity share of natural gas to LNG Canada.