Summary and Final Tasks

Key Learning Points: Lesson 6

1. Natural gas travels through several stages from “wellhead-to-burner tip.”
2. Wells must be connected to pipelines and/or processing plants.
3. The raw wellhead natural gas must be purified and heavy hydrocarbons must be removed.
4. Processing plants produce needed natural gas liquids (NGLs) such as ethane, propane, butane, iso-butane, and natural gasoline.
5. Transmission pipelines are large-diameter pipes that carry gas from the producing areas to the market areas.
6. Storage facilities provide extra supply in times of high demand and a place to store excess gas in times of low demand.
7. End-users can vary from utilities to houses to commercial and industrial facilities.
8. LNG provides 600 times the amount of energy as an equivalent amount of natural gas.
9. The abundant shale gas in the US has led producers to find new markets in the form of LNG exports.

All pipelines are regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which has rules for how they conduct business. The services that pipelines provide and the rates they charge must be posted on their websites. These requirements came about after years of heavy regulation, which eventually led to de-regulation of the industry and a more competitive environment.

Reminder - Complete all of the lesson tasks!

You have reached the end of this lesson. Double-check the list of requirements on the first page of this lesson to make sure you have completed all of the activities listed there before beginning the next lesson.