N AT U R A L G A S U P DAT E S By Dan McVey, Vice President & Chief Operating Officer — Gas Operations The Energy Cooperative strives to provide safe and reliable natural gas service to our members. As our pipeline system continues to expand in order to provide service to new members, we find it necessary to add new gas supply options to our portfolio.
Many of these projects require extensive excavation and brief service interruptions as we replace pipelines and meters at your home. Excavation can also make a bit of a mess in your yard until clean up and reseeding are completed. Every effort is made to perform clean-up work as quickly and efficiently as possible to limit any inconvenience. To limit the amount of time your service is interrupted, we make every effort to contact you before starting work and reactivating your service the same day.
This fall, we are focusing on a source from TC Energy at our Black Run site near Frazeysburg. TC Energy transports gas through its vast interstate pipeline network from many different sources including lower-cost shale gas produced here in the Appalachian Basin. This new supply source will help improve our system operations in eastern Licking and northern Muskingum counties. Dan McVey
NATURAL GAS STORAGE
We can store nearly two billion cubic feet of natural gas in storage fields located in Muskingum and Perry counties. These fields operate by injecting gas by compressor into over 40 individual wells during the summer months with pressures reaching 1,000 PSI when complete. The wells are opened and flow into the pipeline system in the winter months to supplement our gas supply. Every year, we perform inspections on the wells to ensure the piping is corrosion-free and the wells have good deliverability. To look for corrosion, instruments are used to inspect piping and wellheads. If corrosion is found, then replacements are made. To improve deliverability, the wells may be cleaned out or hydraulically fractured to improve gas flow.
PROPANE OPERATIONS
We provide propane service to more than 5,000 members within a twelve-county area. Members of the cooperative consumed over three million gallons of propane last year. Our propane drivers/technicians traveled more than 70,000 miles and made more than 10,000 deliveries in all kinds of weather conditions. This demonstrates our commitment to provide our members with safe and reliable propane service.
GROWTH IN LICKING COUNTY
The activity surrounding Intel requires major upgrades to our pipeline system in western Licking County. We are completing projects to upsize our piping to eight- and twelve-inch to accommodate increased demand in the area. We are well-positioned to handle potential growth resulting from a multitude of different businesses locating in Licking County. This growth will increase member density and gas sales, which ultimately helps improve efficiency and member service.
PIPELINE SYSTEM MAINTENANCE
In addition to building new infrastructure, we continuously replace aging infrastructure to maintain system integrity. Most of the replacement work is done with polyethylene (PE) plastic pipe to prevent corrosion and provide a much longer asset life. 15
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