Natural gas is one of the cleanest burning fossil fuels.

Natural gas can form over time from almost any organic material. It is generally located deep underground in porous rock or trapped between more solid rock formations.

The first natural gas well was drilled in 1883 in a field near Medicine Hat, Alberta.

A gigajoule, a unit for measuring natural gas, is the energy equivalent of about 30 litres of gasoline.

The average Albertan household uses 135 gigajoules of natural gas a year.

Alberta produces about five trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas per year. This is enough natural gas to heat every home in Alberta for 35 years.

Over 80 per cent of Canada’s natural gas production is from Alberta.

In 2006, Alberta consumed 1.45 Tcf of natural gas. The rest was exported across Canada and to the United States.

Royalties to Alberta from natural gas and its byproducts are larger than royalties from crude oil and bitumen.

In 2006-07, the $12.26 billion in non-renewable resource revenue accounted for over 30 per cent of government revenue. In 2006-07, natural gas and by-product revenue was $5.99 billion, or approximately 16 per cent of government revenue.

In 2006, there were 13,473 successful natural gas wells drilled in Alberta: 12,029 conventional gas wells and 1,444 coalbed methane wells.

Coalbed methane (CBM) is natural gas found in coal seams. It is still in the early stages of development in Alberta and may help meet the growing demand for natural gas.

There may be up to 500 Tcf of CBM in Alberta, although it is unknown how much of this gas might be recoverable.

Alberta consumers paid about 30 per cent less (approximately $4.15/GJ) for natural gas than the Canadian average in 2006. After factoring in the Natural Gas Rebate Program, Albertans paid about 45 per cent less for their natural gas.

Alberta has one of the most extensive natural gas systems in the world as part of its energy infrastructure, with 392,000 kilometres of energy related pipelines.