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Natural gas

oil and gas platform surrounded by water

Norway becomes top gas supplier to Europe after Russia invasion

Energy

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine upended energy markets and sent prices through the roof. As Europe weaned itself off of Russian fuels, it turned to Norway. The country is now the largest exporter of natural gas to Europe.

An offshore gas terminal is lit up amid the Atlantic Ocean as houses lay on the beachfront between the sea and the Senegal River, bottom, in Saint-Louis, Senegal, Jan. 18, 2023.

Europe looks to Senegal for new energy supply. But what’s in it for the Senegalese?

Energy
The Krechba gas plant in Algeria's Sahara Desert, about 720 miles south of the capital, Algiers, Dec. 14, 2008.

Spain and Algeria at odds over Western Sahara, energy and migration

Borders
In the small seaside town of Lubmin, on the Baltic coast, the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline from Russia hits German soil. But the shiny new pipes sit unused since Germany canceled the project in February.

As Germany reckons with Russian energy, this village is caught in the crossroads

Energy
A natural gas power plant of RWE AG in Lingen, Germany

Can heat pumps help bring peace to Ukraine?

Ukraine
Red and white trucks flank a tall drilling well pictured against the sky

Trying to measure fracking’s toll on human health

Environment

The fracking boom has transformed large swaths of rural America, turning towns from idyllic to industrial and threatening the physical and mental health of many inhabitants.

Ethane crackers pollution, carbon emissions

New ethane cracker factories raise climate change and pollution concerns

Environment

Plastic has long been made from oil, but today it’s increasingly made from ethane, a component of natural gas. To turn ethane into the building block of plastic, petrochemical companies are investing in ethane cracker plants, raising concerns about what these facilities could mean for air pollution and climate change.

A natural gas flare on an oil well pad burns as the sun sets outside Watford City, North Dakota

EPA’s rollback of methane regulation is bad for the climate — and energy companies

Energy

The Environmental Protection Agency said it wants to get rid of the methane regulations that the Obama administration put in place. Climate experts are worried, but so are energy executives.

Aerial view fracking pads

Fracking causes environmental damage and birth defects, new study shows

Environment

A new metastudy details the adverse effects fracking has on the local environment, the climate and human health.

Andrea Carolina and Desikan Sundararajan with Statoil, along with Dirk Richter, founder of Quanta3 (left to right), install a pilot methane detector at a Statoil well pad at the Eagle Ford Shale natural gas site in Texas.

Engineers compete to detect methane leaks, a powerful climate pollutant

Environment

Leaks of methane from gas and oil wells are a major source of climate pollution but it’s tough to detect the odorless and colorless gas. Now, a new competition is spurring inventors to come up with cheaper and more effective methane detectors. The World’s Jason Margolis profiles two of the inventors.