Overview:

Many scientists believe that natural gas was created from fossil plants along with coal, as well as where there were large organic deposits that did not become coal, such as at the mouths of rivers. Some, however, have argued that methane, the principle component of gas, was created along with the earth's crust. The study of fossils is called paleontology. The creation of natural gas is part of geology.

Trade Associations:

American Association of Petroleum Geologists.
January 2000 update: This URL was not working during this update.
Masera AAPG-Data Systems (GEOBYTE-DOM)
1743 East 71st St.
Tulsa, OK 74136-5108
European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers.
Geological Association of Canada - national society for the geosciences.
Geological Society of America -- includes earth scientists at all levels of expertise and from all sectors: academic, government, business, and industry.
International Association of Mathematical Geology
Society of Economic Geologists
Society of Independent Professional Earth Scientists - for the consulting earth scientist.

Yahoo Sites:

Science: Earth Sciences: Geology and Geophysics.
Business and Economy: Companies: Scientific: Geology and Geophysics.
Science: Earth Sciences: Geology and Geophysics: Exploration Geophysics.
Computers and Internet: Software: Scientific: Geology and Geophysics.

Regulation:

Research into the creation of natural gas is regulated informally by peer review.

Energy Information Administration (home page)
U.S. Geological Survey (home page)

Trade periodicals:

American Geophysical Union -- Contents and Abstracts of Recent AGU Journals.
Oil & Gas Journal Online From PennWell .

Other sources:

American Geological Institute - federation of 30 geoscience societies, promoting a united voice for the geoscience community and providing information and education services.
COGS - Computer Oriented Geological Society
Consortium for International Earth Science Information Network - organization dedicated to making information available to researchers, policy makers, and the general public.
Geochemical Society - a non-profit scientific society encouraging the application of chemistry to the solution of geological and cosmological problems.
Geological Society - the UK's national geological learned society and the professional body for UK scientists.
Geologische Vereinigung e.V. - non-profit international earth science organization.
Geoshare Users Group - includes detailed data transfer model definition, meeting announcements, and catalog, based in Houston, Texas.
International Union of Geological Sciences - the IUGS promotes and supports the study of geological problems of world-wide significance and facilitates international and interdisciplinary cooperation in the earth sciences.
Museum of Paleontology of the University of California at Berkeley.
National Academy of Sciences - Environment and Earth Sciences has numerous resources.
--Commission on Geosciences, Environment, and Resources of the NAS studies atmospheric sciences and climate, oceanography, solid-earth sciences, polar research, environmental science, natural disasters, and water science.
Paleomap Foundation - to promote the understanding of Earth history, especially those processes that lead to the formation of the Earth's natural resources.