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PARKERSBURG --Dominion Energy Transmission Inc. set another record for natural gas withdrawn from its storage pools this past winter, breaking last year's record-setting storage turn.
"The record can be attributed to weather, which was 0.3 percent colder than normal and 16.1 percent colder than last winter, and the weighted average cost of storage gas," said John Love, director of Dominion Energy Transmission's Gas Storage and Land Services. "Basically, customers bought less expensive gas during injection season (April 1-Oct. 31) and withdrew it during higher prices in the winter."
Dominion Energy Transmission has 17 natural gas storage pools located in New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. It is part of a fleet of Dominion Energy's expansive storage assets, which also include Dominion Energy Questar's (Utah/Wyoming) and Dominion Energy Ohio's storage pools.
"Typically, about 50 percent of the natural gas transported by Dominion Energy during the winter heating season -- especially for residential heating -- is withdrawn from our gas storage pools," said Cristie Neller, vice president, Eastern Pipeline Engineering & Construction. "Gas storage continues to provide tremendous value and play a critical role in meeting the needs of our customers in a safe and reliable manner."
For gas storage purposes, the winter heating season typically takes place from Nov. 1 through March 31, but because of colder weather, Dominion Energy continued to withdrawal natural gas from storage until April 20.
Dominion Energy Transmission also set a single-day record for withdrawing natural gas on Jan. 14, one of five times this January that it broke the previous single-day transportation record set Feb. 13, 2016. It also had the highest three-day withdrawal rate, Jan. 4-6, in the past 17 years.
Among the reasons for DETI's record breaking included large storage turn, colder temperatures, power generation and new projects coming online.