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Natural Gas: From Past to Present

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It seems that we have been enjoying the benefits of natural gas all our lives – from heating our homes and warming water to industrial use. But if we look back at history, people only began to use natural gas in domestic and industrial settings on a large scale in the 1920s–1930s, even though the most flammable gas was known since antiquity.

As for the Stolinsky region, natural gas arrived on November 13, 2002, when, in a solemn ceremony in the district center, a torch was lit with the participation of the President of the Republic of Belarus. From that moment, the district's gasification began.

– Today we have gasified 43 settlements out of 99, – Viktor Lyashuk, head of the Stolinsky District Gas Supply, said ahead of the professional holiday. – Among them are the largest settlements: Stolyn, Olszany, David‑Gorodok, and Rechitsa.

Today the Stolinsky District Gas Supply consists of 1,087.3 km of pipelines at all pressure levels: 108.8 km high pressure, 950 km medium pressure, 28.5

According to estimates from historical production data, throughout the entire history of industrial development (starting from the second half of the 19th century), humanity has burned and processed approximately 120–140 trillion cubic meters of natural gas. Production volumes have grown enormously in recent decades: if the world consumed about 2.4 trillion cubic meters per year in 2000, today that figure exceeds 4 trillion. In other words, to date, we have consumed just over a third of the planet's initially accessible reserves.

Scientists divide the remaining gas into three main categories: proven (explored) reserves: about 206 trillion cubic meters. These are the volumes definitively located in explored deposits and can be extracted with current technologies at a commercial profit. Unproven (forecast) reserves: another 150 to 300 trillion cubic meters. This category includes hard-to-access deep deposits, polar zones, and unexplored territories. With technological advancements and the use of artificial intelligence in geological exploration, these volumes are gradually transitioning into the "proven" category. Unconventional gas (gas hydrates): thousands of trillions of cubic meters (a number that is difficult to even imagine). Gigantic volumes of crystalline methane hydrate are trapped beneath the ocean floors and in permafrost. Their reserves vastly exceed all the planet's fossil fuels, but safe and inexpensive extraction technologies do not yet exist.

Aleksandr NIKIFORENKO

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