AGA: U.S. Has Largest Gas Storage

The United States has the largest storage asset of any country in the world with more than 400 natural gas storage fields, according to AGA.

The American Gas Association (AGA) yesterday released its most recent Survey of Underground Storage of Natural Gas in the United States and Canada.

“Up to 20 percent of all requirements for natural gas winter heating season are met by underground storage,” said Dave McCurdy, president and CEO of AGA. “The massive storage capacity that our nation possesses is one of the critical tools that enables our members to reliably offer clean natural gas to their consumers at stable prices throughout the year.”

The winter heating season is defined as November through March. Underground storage reached record levels in November 2011 at nearly 3.9 trillion cubic feet of stored working gas for the third year in a row. In fact, with the warmer than normal temperatures that have persisted in many regions of the country this winter, robust storage inventories have had the influence of placing additional downward pressure on natural gas acquisition prices. The combination of reduced heating loads and lower prices has meant savings for natural gas consumers.

Underground gas storage is an efficient way to balance discrepancies between gas supply input and gas market demand. Recently, growing gas production and moderate gas demand has been coupled with normal seasonal, daily and even hourly fluctuations. Traditionally, gas storage acts as a balancing tool and as a means of minimizing the cost of gas service. Gas goes into storage when market requirements are lower than supply volumes flowing to consumers. Gas comes out of storage when market demand exceeds available supply.

AGA has been working with industry storage operators and owners to compile technical and geological storage statistics for storage facilities in the US and Canada since 1966. The “Survey of Underground Storage Of Natural Gas In the United States And Canada: 2010/2011” is the most comprehensive resource on the market, listing technical and geological information for over 400 active/inactive/abandoned storage facilities located in the U.S. and Canada. Categories of data include facility name, status and operator; geologic details; and operational and engineering data.

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LNG World News Staff, February 3, 2012