Saskatchewan sets new natural gas usage record
By Kelly Skjerven Global NewsPosted February 13, 2021 6:35 pm EST
SaskEnergy reported a new natural gas usage record of 1.59 petajoules on Friday as temperatures outside dipped to -31.3 C in Saskatoon and -33.8 C in Regina. File / Global News
Saskatchewan has exceeded its record for daily natural gas consumption for the second time in less than a week.
SaskEnergy reported a new record of 1.59 petajoules (PJ) was set on Friday as temperatures outside dipped to -31.3 C in Saskatoon and -33.8 C in Regina.
The previous record was set on Feb. 9 when 1.57 PJ of natural gas was used in Saskatchewan. The low in Saskatoon on Feb. 9 was -29.7 C.
Environment Canada issued an extreme cold warning for southern Saskatchewan on Feb. 5. On Saturday, the warning was still in place and is expected to continue for a couple more days.
Extreme cold values of -40 to -50 will be back on Saturday night into Sunday morning.
SaskEnergy said that this is the eighth winter in a row that the usage record has been matched or exceeded. They added that more natural gas is being used because of residential, business, and industrial customer growth, including increasing natural gas use for power production in Saskatchewan
