According to statistical reports, the gas industry in the structure of the fuel and energy complex of Russia appeared not so long ago. About fifty years ago, the first natural gas production and processing facilities were commissioned . As further development of known fields and exploration of new ones showed, the reserves of natural gas are estimated in huge volumes. Based on these data, a plan for the extraction and processing of this resource was developed. To implement this plan, it was necessary to produce industrial gas equipment and train specialists accordingly.
Natural gas, when compared with other fuels, has a number of undeniable advantages. The first difference that should be emphasized is that when gas is burned, no ash, slag or other by-products remain. It is much easier to transport to the place of consumption. It can be stored in either compressed or liquefied form. Given the market conditions, the gas industry has mastered the technology for producing
liquefied gas. It is in this form that it is in demand in some Asian countries. Although the main pipelines of fuel supply remain. Their length is tens of thousands of kilometers.
It is not difficult to imagine that the creation, maintenance and development of such an economy required the enormous efforts of engineering, designers and builders. There is every reason to say that the gas industry has become a locomotive, a
driving force that pushed the development of scientific research and the improvement of engineering technologies. If we consider the production and supply of gas as a specific chain of actions, then its scheme will be simple and understandable. Gas, figuratively speaking, is pumped out of the underground reservoir, which was created by nature, and is pumped through the pipe to the right place.
Turning on a gas stove in the kitchen, millions of people in all corners of our planet do not even think about how hard “blue fuel” is extracted and how it is transported. At the same time, modern metallurgical plants produce the necessary metals and alloys for the production of pipes, valves and gas generators. In practice, a peculiar complex has developed when the gas industry supplies
ferrous metallurgy with high-tech fuel, and in return receives the necessary equipment for its activities. A special piquancy of the situation lies in the fact that the use of gas in metallurgy can improve the technical and economic indicators of production.
In this context, it should be noted that the world's gas industry has accumulated a large number of technologies for gas production and transportation. Natural gas reserves are located in various regions of the planet and in various geological conditions. There are purely gas deposits - on land and below the surface of the oceans. There are gas formations or so-called “caps” above oil fields. In each case, a certain production technology is applied. That is why gas producers contain research and design departments in their structure.