Overview of Operations

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Storage Solutions

We own and/or operate depleted reservoirs, salt caverns and liquefied natural gas storage solutions.

Depleted Reservoirs

Depleted reservoirs (or pools) in our eastern North America market area are used as storage facilities by injecting natural gas back into the porous underground rock that once held the fuel before it was produced.

Spectra Energy owns the storage field near the town of Accident, Maryland, and partially owns the Pennsylvania fields near Oakford (50 percent) and Leidy (25 percent). The proximity of these storage fields to our shippers provides a great deal of flexibility. The depleted reservoirs in use at Accident, Oakford and Leidy allow for "one turn" per year (an injection and withdrawal cycle that takes 12 months).

Our Union Gas storage facility at Dawn, Ontario, is North America's largest. It, too, is a depleted reservoir but the porosity of its geologic formation allows for more than one turn per year. In total, Spectra Energy's depleted reservoir working gas storage capacity is about 235 Bcf.

Salt Caverns

Salt is impermeable and self-sealing, so it creates exceptionally strong and environmentally sound storage. Our salt caverns can extend more than 1,000 feet underground. In fact, their vertical height can be greater than a major skyscraper is tall.

Spectra Energy owns three salt storage facilities, one in Liberty County, Texas (Moss Bluff), one in Acadia Parish, Louisiana (Egan), and one in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana (Bobcat) with others in development. These facilities are equipped with bi-directional interconnects to major pipelines serving the Gulf Coast, Midwest, Southeast & Northeast U.S. markets.

We also use a bedded salt formation in southwest Virginia for natural gas storage. The bedded salt beneath the Saltville facility allows for caverns not as deep as those in Texas and Louisiana, but wider.

In total, Spectra Energy has more than 65 Bcf of salt cavern working gas storage capacity.

Liquefied Natural Gas

Spectra Energy operates a LNG storage facility near Kingsport, Tennessee, and another near Hagar, Ontario. Both of these facilities have the capacity to store about 1 Bcf each for shippers seeking peak day services.