What gas makes up natural gas?

Answer 1

The natural gas supplied by your utility company is almost pure methane. This is a chemical compound of one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms.

The stuff that comes out of a natural gas well is a mixture of hydrocarbons (mainly methane, ethane, propane, and butane) and impurities. All of the stuff besides methane is separated out (and something smelly like mercaptan added in) before the natural gas is sold to consumers.

Answer 2

Methane is the primary component of natural gas, making up around 90-95% of its composition. It also contains smaller amounts of other hydrocarbons such as ethane, propane, and butane, as well as some non-hydrocarbon gases like carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and hydrogen sulfide.

Answer 3

This varies between sources. The main gas is methane, with variable amounts of ethane, propane and butane, plus small amounts of nitrogen, water vapour, oxygen and carbon dioxide.