Natural Gas Liquids

What is NGL's

About Natural Gas & Gas Liquids or NGL's

Natural gas is a hydrocarbon comprised of two parts - a light gas component and a heavier gas liquids component. The light gas consists of methane, while the liquids consist of ethane, propane, butane, isobutane and natural gasoline. These liquids are used as petrochemical feedstocks, home heating fuels and refinery blending.

Before most natural gas is marketed to a distributor or an end-user, it is processed to remove the natural gas liquids (NGLs), which usually have more value on their own than when left in the natural gas. The product that results after NGLs are removed, called plant residue gas, consist of methane, which is the natural gas used as heating and cooking fuel.

After NGLs are removed from natural gas, they are reprocessed in a unit called a fractionator to break them out for individual sale as propane, butane and other products.