Presently, the demand for natural gas is shaped primarily by its use in space heating homes and businesses. Nonetheless, the gas supply industry has done a remarkable job of delivering gas when and where it s needed. A key element in this success has been the gas storage system.
Gas storage consists of two basic elements.
The backbone of the storage system is underground storage of domestic natural gas. Each year, from April to November, operators inject excess summer production into more than 400 gas storage fields. The natural gas storage system serves two crucial roles in ensuring reliable and reasonably-priced supplies of natural gas. First, storage enables the industry to hold down prices by making the overall production and transmission systems more efficient. Without storage, more wells and more pipes would be needed to deliver winter volumes, and these costs would be passed along to the customer.