Buffer gas Buffer gas A buffer gas is an inert or nonflammable gas. In the Earth's atmosphere, nitrogen acts as a buffer gas. A buffer gas adds pressure to a system and controls the speed of combustion with any oxygen present. Any inert gas such as helium, neon, or argon will serve as a buffer gas. Buffer gases are commonly used in many applications from high pressure discharge lamps to reduce line width of microwave transitions in alkali atoms. A buffer gas usually consists of atomically inert gases such as helium, argon, and nitrogen which are the primary gases used. Krypton, neon,
Natural gas in the United States barrels per day in 2014. The US has been the world's leading producer of natural gas liquids since 2010, when US NGL production passed that of Saudi Arabia. Although the United States leads the world in natural gas production, it is only fifth in proved reserves of natural gas, behind Russia, Iran, Qatar, and Turkmenistan. The United States oil and gas industry is often informally divided into "upstream" (exploration and production), "midstream" (transportation and refining), and "downstream" (distribution and marketing). Petroleum and natural gas share a common upstream (exploration and production) sector, but the midstream and downstream sectors are largely