Course 01 of 20 · Natural Gas Desk Academy

Natural Gas Business from Zero

Stage A, Gas literacy and measurement. Level 1 of 10.

The vocabulary and the physical value chain from wellhead through processing, pipeline and storage to the burner tip, and who the counterparties are at each step.

125 chapters · 12 modules · every chapter one 8 to 10 minute explainer · builds on: nothing: this is the entry point

Enrol or enquire See the 125 chapters
How a chapter is sized

One chapter is one idea taken to the point of use

Each chapter is a single self-contained explainer of 8 to 10 narrated minutes, covering one idea to the point where you can use it.

Chapters run in order. Each one assumes only what the chapters before it taught, and capability belonging to a later course is named and deferred rather than half-covered.

Curriculum

12 modules · 125 chapters

Open any module for its full chapter list, in teaching order.

M0 What Natural Gas Actually Is Ch 1-11
  1. What Natural Gas Physically Is
  2. The Vocabulary of the Gas Business
  3. The Molecules in the Mixture
  4. Wet Gas, Dry Gas and Associated Gas
  5. Why a Buyer Pays for Energy and Not for Space
  6. What the World Burns Gas For
  7. Heating: The Demand That Follows the Thermometer
  8. Power Generation: The Dispatchable Fuel
  9. Industrial Process Heat
  10. Gas as a Chemical Feedstock
  11. Why Gas Is a Network Business
M1 Where the Gas Comes From Ch 12-21
  1. How Gas Ends Up Underground
  2. Conventional Reservoirs and Unconventional Rock
  3. Drilling and Completion as a Commercial Decision
  4. What a Well Delivers and How Fast It Fades
  5. Associated Gas: The By-Product Nobody Ordered
  6. Why Gas Supply Reacts Slowly, Then All at Once
  7. Mineral Rights, Leases and State Ownership
  8. Royalty, Fiscal Take and What the Producer Keeps
  9. Biomethane and Other Non-Fossil Sources
  10. Reading a Drilling Programme as a Supply Signal
M2 Gathering, Processing and What Comes Out Ch 22-32
  1. From Wellhead to Gathering System
  2. Separation at the Field
  3. Why Raw Gas Cannot Enter a Pipeline
  4. Dehydration and the Water Problem
  5. Acid Gas: Hydrogen Sulphide and Carbon Dioxide
  6. Sweetening and Sulphur Recovery
  7. Nitrogen, Helium and the Inert Fraction
  8. Extracting the Natural Gas Liquids
  9. Fractionation and the Markets for Ethane, Propane and Butane
  10. Pipeline Specification: What the Gas Must Satisfy
  11. Processing Economics: Keep the Liquids or Leave Them In
M3 The Pipeline System Ch 33-44
  1. What a Pipeline Actually Is
  2. Compressor Stations and Why Gas Needs Pushing
  3. Line Pack: The Gas Already Inside the System
  4. Gathering, Transmission and Distribution
  5. The City Gate and the Local Distribution Company
  6. Odorisation and the Last Mile
  7. Receipt Points, Delivery Points and the Path
  8. Interconnects and How Networks Join
  9. Fuel Retention: Why Less Arrives Than Departs
  10. Capacity: Why a Pipe Has a Limit
  11. Firm and Interruptible Service in Outline
  12. Where the System Physically Cannot Deliver
M4 Storage and the Shape of Demand Ch 45-54
  1. Why Gas Has to Be Stored at All
  2. Depleted Reservoir Storage
  3. Aquifer Storage
  4. Salt Cavern Storage and the Value of Speed
  5. Working Gas, Cushion Gas and Usable Capacity
  6. Injection and Withdrawal Seasons
  7. Deliverability Versus Capacity
  8. Peak Shaving and the Short-Duration Buffers
  9. Liquefied Gas as a Route Onto the System
  10. Why the Chain Has No Slack Without Storage
M5 Who Burns the Gas Ch 55-64
  1. The Burner Tip: Where the Chain Ends
  2. Households and Small Commercial Load
  3. The Local Distribution Company as Buyer and Deliverer
  4. Industrial Users and the Economics of Process Heat
  5. Gas-Fired Generation as a Buyer
  6. Fuel Switching: Who Can and Who Cannot
  7. Load Shape: Why When You Burn It Matters
  8. Interruptible Customers and the Order of Curtailment
  9. Gas as a Transport Fuel
  10. Demand Destruction and the Price That Stops Consumption
M6 Why Gas Is Harder to Move Than Oil Ch 65-73
  1. Energy Density and Why It Governs Everything
  2. Why You Cannot Simply Load Gas Into a Tank
  3. Regional Markets Versus a Global Commodity
  4. Liquefaction and Regasification in Outline
  5. Infrastructure Decides Your Counterparty List
  6. Stranded Gas and Reserves Without a Route
  7. Flaring, Reinjection and Venting as Commercial Choices
  8. Why Continental Price Levels Can Stay Apart
  9. Why Gas Contracts Became Long and Rigid
M7 The Cast of the Gas Market Ch 74-84
  1. Mapping the Participants and What Each Wants
  2. Producers and the Problem of Continuous Output
  3. Midstream Operators as Sellers of Access
  4. Pipeline Operators and Their Regulated Position
  5. Storage Operators and What They Sell
  6. Processors, Liquids Owners and the Split of Value
  7. Marketers, Aggregators and Wholesale Traders
  8. Retail Suppliers and the Customer-Facing Book
  9. Utilities and the Obligation to Serve
  10. Banks, Credit and Who Finances the Chain
  11. Regulators, System Operators and the Rules of the Road
M8 What a Gas Transaction Looks Like Ch 85-96
  1. What a Gas Deal Actually Agrees
  2. Why Gas Is Sold as a Flow, Not a Shipment
  3. Quantity in a Gas Deal: Daily Rate and Period Total
  4. The Delivery Point and Why It Is Half the Price
  5. Spot, Monthly and Term Commitments
  6. Fixed, Indexed and Formula Prices in Outline
  7. From Enquiry to Agreed Trade
  8. The Confirmation and the Master Agreement
  9. Title Transfer at a Point
  10. The Daily Cycle in Outline
  11. From Flow to Invoice in Outline
  12. What Goes Wrong in a Simple Gas Deal
M9 Why Price and Risk Exist at All Ch 97-106
  1. Why Gas Has a Price at All
  2. Why the Price Differs by Place
  3. Why the Price Differs by Day and by Season
  4. Why the Price Differs by Firmness
  5. Exposure: What It Means in a Gas Book
  6. Volume Risk: The Exposure Gas Has and Oil Does Not
  7. Price Risk on a Supply Obligation
  8. Imbalance: The Risk of Being Wrong About Flow
  9. Counterparty and Credit Risk in Outline
  10. Why Desks, Limits and Controls Exist
M10 Why Gas Prices Move Ch 107-116
  1. Reading Price Moves Honestly
  2. Weather as the Dominant Short-Run Driver
  3. Storage Levels as the Market's Running Score
  4. Production Surprises and Supply Outages
  5. Power Burn and Competition With Other Fuels
  6. Maintenance and Infrastructure News
  7. Imports, Exports and Diverted Cargoes
  8. Policy and Regulation as Price Events
  9. Why Gas Is More Volatile Than Most Commodities
  10. What a Headline Is Actually Worth
M11 Putting the Chain Together Ch 117-125
  1. The Whole Chain in One Picture
  2. Following One Unit of Energy, Part One: Rock to Pipeline
  3. Following One Unit of Energy, Part Two: Pipeline to Radiator
  4. A Cold Snap Walked Through the Whole Chain
  5. Where the Money Is Made in the Gas Chain
  6. The Questions a New Joiner Should Be Able to Answer
  7. What This Course Cannot Tell You
  8. How This Academy Is Built: Levels and Prerequisites
  9. The Other Nineteen Courses and What Each Owns

The brochure gives each of these 125 chapters a paragraph on what it covers and what you can do once you have worked through it.

This is course 1 of twenty

It stands alone, and it is also the entry point to the Natural Gas Desk Academy pathway.

Enrol or enquire See the whole pathway