Dominion explains delivery

Steve Cary

Massive caverns under the ground are packed with billions of cubic feet of natural gas, stored here for timely delivery to markets in several states.

Few natural gas users consider the work mechanics involved in bringing the fuel from as far away as the Gulf of Mexico.

Last week, D o m i n i o n Transmission Inc., which operates the world's largest underground natural gas storage system, explained the complexities of the delivery and marketing during an open house to spotlight its $65

Steve Cary

million expansion project in the region.

Dominion has established four new underground wells near the New York/Pennsylvania border, about one mile deep and

occupying 536 acres. They're capable of storing 8 billion cubic feet of gas.

The open house was held at the Dominion facility near Olean, N.Y. The site has several buildings and compressors to refine and pump the natural gas.

To connect the facility to a nearby pipeline in S h i n g l e h o u s e , Dominion laid a 20- inch pipe stretching 21 miles in Sharon Township, Potter County. Work began in September 2005 and was completed in early April.

Steve Cary of

C o u d e r s p o r t ,

D o m i n i o n ' s instrument technician, and corporate officials conducted the tour.

A pipeline stretching from Sharon to Genesee is also planned, with a compressor relay station to be built near Genesee.

With 10,000 miles of pipeline in six states, the company also has links to other major pipelines throughout the U.S. The gas companies buy blocks of natural gas when the costs are low and Dominion stores it, for a fee, until it's withdrawn when prices are higher.