It has agreed a three-year contract with Glasgow-based Response UK to provide call centre staff handling its gas and electricity account holders.

BBC: Energy firm supports 300 new jobs

However noble Mr Morales's aim of creating a fairer country, his handling of gas suggests he has chosen the wrong means to achieve it.

ECONOMIST: All's not well at the well-head

A. in marketing from the University of Texas, he put in time at North Central Oil in Houston, handling hedging and gas marketing.

FORBES: Down and Dirty

In South Korea postal workers handling international mail have started using gas masks and gloves.

BBC: Asia hit by Anthrax scares

For all the attention given to technologies like horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, some of the greatest gains to be made in reducing the environmental risks of natural-gas production come from simple things like the proper pouring of cement well casings and the proper handling of chemicals and wastewater, so that they do not spill or seep into streams or water supplies.

WSJ: Is Natural Gas the Road to a Clean Energy Future?