Natural Gas: From the Past to the Present

Natural Gas: From Past to Present

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It may seem like we've been enjoying the benefits of natural gas our whole lives — from heating our homes and heating water to using it in industry. However, looking back in history, people only began using natural gas in their households and on an industrial scale in the 1920s–1930s, even though the combustible gas itself was known as far back as antiquity.

As for the Stolin region, natural gas arrived here on November 13, 2002, when a torch was lit at the regional center in a ceremonial setting with the participation of the President of the Republic of Belarus. That moment marked the beginning of the district's gasification.

"Today, 43 out of 99 settlements in our district have been connected to gas," said Viktor Lyashuk, head of the Stolin District Gas Supply, on the eve of the professional holiday. "Among them are the largest settlements — Stolin, Olshany, David-Gorodok, and Rechitsa."

Today, the Stolin District Gas Supply comprises 1,087.3 km of gas pipelines of all pressures: including 108.8 km of high-pressure, 950 km of medium-pressure, 28.5 km of low-pressure, and 1.9 km of liquefied gas pipelines. Over the eight months of 2026, 23.7 km of new gas pipelines were built and put into operation.

As of September 1 of the current year, 28,019 apartments in the district have been connected to gas, including 19,308 apartments connected to natural gas.

Despite the significant work done over the past two decades on laying utility networks, the gasification of settlements in rural areas continues. Thus, within the framework of Decree No. 368, facilities in the village of Ozdamichi (with a length of 2.48 km) and the agro-town of Olshany (with a length of 0.72 km) have been gasified. Design and estimate documentation has been developed, a procedure for selecting a contractor for construction and installation work has been carried out, and work is beginning on facilities in the agro-town of Velemichi, the village of Tury, the agro-town of Bolshoye Maleshevo, and the agro-town of Fedyory. The procedure for selecting a design organization to develop design and estimate documentation for the gasification of facilities in the village of Ozdamichi and the agro-town of Olshany has been completed.

As part of the implementation of the State Program "Sustainable Energy and Energy Efficiency" for 2026-2030, specifically the sub-program "Balanced Development and Modernization of the Energy Sector," the following work has been completed: the construction of a supply main gas pipeline to the settlement of ag. Rukhcha-1 (15.1 km in length), as well as the "Construction of gas supply networks for converting the housing stock from liquefied to natural gas in the village of Rukhcha-2 (2.8 km in length)." Procedures have been carried out to select design organizations for the development of design and estimate documentation for the gasification of the village of Khotomel and the village of Tolmachevo, which are included in the List of construction projects and facilities financed through subsidies transferred from the republican budget to maintain safe operating conditions in the territories affected by the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster.

Considerable attention is being given to the issue of replacing equipment that has reached the end of its standard service life and to carrying out a range of work to assess the technical condition of gas-consuming equipment.

One of the key factors ensuring the safety of the population when using gas in everyday life is the timely maintenance of internal gas pipelines and in-house gas equipment in residential buildings.

As of September 1 of the current year, the Stolin District Gas Supply Authority has completed the following: full maintenance of in-house gas supply systems and gas-consuming equipment in 1,055 apartments and houses; maintenance of heating gas-consuming equipment in the housing stock – 7,111 units; maintenance of instantaneous water heaters – 336 units. A comprehensive instrumented inspection of 7.43 km of gas pipelines has been carried out.

Regarding gas consumption, over seven months of 2026, consumers were supplied with 38.8 million cubic meters of natural gas: 25.3 million to the population and 13.5 million cubic meters to legal entities. The consumption of liquefied gas today is several orders of magnitude lower. For comparison, over the same period, only 429.7 tons were supplied, of which 409.9 tons went to the population and 19.8 tons to legal entities.

And the most interesting question: "How much gas has already been used and how much remains underground?"

According to historical production data estimates, over the entire history of industrial development (since the second half of the 19th century), humanity has burned and processed around 120-140 trillion cubic meters of natural gas. Production volumes have grown enormously in recent decades: if in 2000 the world consumed about 2.4 trillion cubic meters per year, today this figure exceeds 4 trillion. In other words, to date we have used up slightly more than a third of all the planet's originally easily accessible reserves.

The remaining gas is divided by scientists into three main categories: proven (explored) reserves: about 206 trillion cubic meters. These are the volumes that are definitely located in explored fields and can be extracted with current technologies at a commercial profit. Unproven (forecast) reserves: another 150 to 300 trillion cubic meters. This includes hard-to-reach deep deposits, polar zones, and unexplored territories. With the development of technologies and artificial intelligence in geological exploration, these volumes are gradually moving into the "proven" category. Unconventional gas (gas hydrates): thousands of trillions of cubic meters (a number that's hard to even imagine). On the ocean floor and in permafrost, enormous volumes of crystalline methane hydrate are locked away. Their reserves many times exceed all the planet's fossil fuels, but safe and inexpensive technologies for their extraction do not yet exist.

Alexander NIKIFORENKO

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