Daily natural gas consumption in the province has set a new record of 1.43 PetaJoules (PJ) of natural gas. This record, set in the 24-hour period between 9 a.m. December 26 and 9 a.m. December 27, breaks new records set on both December 24 and December 25. These records all surpass the 1.33 PJ record from the winter of 2016/2017.
Yesterday’s consumption mark of 1.41 PJ, while not record-setting, is the third highest natural gas consumption day ever recorded in the province.
The new natural gas consumption record is due to the extreme cold temperatures, along with high natural gas consumption from industrial customers and power plants. The 1.43 PJ record is seven per cent higher than the record set last winter. A PetaJoule is a unit of measurement equivalent to one million GigaJoules (GJ) of natural gas – the average home in Saskatchewan consumes about 102 GJ of natural gas annually.
Record-setting natural gas usage days are happening more frequently with higher customer volumes. SaskEnergy’s system is designed around this increased growth, ensuring additional capacity so that even on peak record days, the system is able to provide more natural gas than required.
SaskEnergy employees work throughout the year to inspect, maintain and upgrade the province’s natural gas system so that it can operate safely and efficiently regardless of the weather conditions. The system is continuously monitored to manage peak demands such as the winter weather conditions Saskatchewan has been experiencing since this past weekend.
For further information, please contact:
Dave Burdeniuk
Director, Government and Media Relations
SaskEnergy
Phone: 1-306-777-9842
Cell: 1-306-535-6569
E-mail