Natural gas storage

At PSE, we carefully manage our gas-supply portfolio to reduce financial risks and control costs. One way we do this is by buying and storing significant amounts of natural gas during the summer months, when wholesale gas prices and customer demand are low.

We store it in large underground facilities and then withdraw it in winter when customer usage is highest, ensuring that a reliable supply of gas is available when you need it most.

Jackson Prairie Underground Natural Gas Storage Facility

We co-own and operate the Pacific Northwest's largest natural gas storage depot, the Jackson Prairie Underground Natural Gas Storage Facility in Lewis County.

The 14th largest gas-storage reserve in the country, the 3,200-acre reservoir can hold about 44 billion cubic feet of natural gas. First opened in 1970, Jackson Prairie's natural gas reserves can meet up to 25 percent of the Pacific Northwest's peak demand on our coldest winter days.

PSE also stores up to 12.9 billion cubic feet of natural gas in Questar's Clay Basin underground facility in northeast Utah.

Fact sheet

Jackson Prairie Underground Natural Gas Storage Facility

Tacoma Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Facility

PSE and its commercial, sister company Puget LNG, co-own an LNG facility at the Port of Tacoma. Commissioned in 2022, the facility has the ability to liquefy up to 250,000 gallons of LNG a day and store the product in an 8-million gallon LNG storage tank. This stored gas supply resource can then both serve PSE's natural gas customers and provide fuel to maritime vessels and trucks. The facility is designed to the highest safety standards, including to withstand a once-in-every-2,450-year earthquake.

LNG is the liquid form of natural gas. When cooled to -260 degrees F, natural gas is reduced to a liquid that is one six-hundredth the volume, making it easier to store and transport.

As a peak shaving facility, LNG is stored so that it can be used in times of increased demand. The Tacoma LNG facility meets peak demand and mitigates the risk of the region being served by a single transmission pipeline. When it vaporizes LNG into the gas distribution system, it has the ability to reduce costs, provide alternative supplies during emergencies, improve reliability and deliver an alternate fuel source during planned maintenance activities. The maximum capacity of the plant has the capability to supply up to 66,000 Dekatherms of gas per day, which is enough to provide the gas energy needs of 45,000 typical homes during very cold weather. This allows PSE to provide dependable and cost-effective natural gas to serve local customers on the coldest days of the year without the need to run costly new pipelines.

Additionally, the facility plays a key role in helping create a greener shipping fleet for our partner, TOTE Maritime, aligning with our Beyond Net Zero Carbon commitment as we “go beyond” addressing our own carbon emissions to help other sectors, including the transportation and maritime industries. Previously, TOTE Maritime relied on distillate petroleum fuels – such as Marine Fuel Oil and Diesel – to power its ships. When replacing diesel fuel, LNG significantly reduces the amount of criterial pollutants and harmful particulates, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. It also helps reduce emissions in over the road transportation customer fleets, including for our partner, Potelco.

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Email: Major.Projects@bagmakerblog.com