How quickly things change With the main natural gas pipeline running at reduced rates, the day-ahead wholesale price at the pipeline hub at Sumas, Wash., and Huntingdon, B.C., surged by 35 per cent on Wednesday to $7.39 a million British thermal units, according to data supplied by Stifel FirstEnergy. That compared with a $4.24 average for the fourth quarter of last year.
Prices were already forecast to surge this winter as gas producers struggle to boost supplies after a reduction in drilling activity in 2020, when the pandemic sapped demand for fuels. Southern B.C. faces the potential for even higher prices, but only if shipments remain restricted.
“As long as they can confirm there’s been no land movement around the pipe itself, or there’s no damage to the pipe, I suspect this will all be back up in, certainly, less than a week,” said Martin King, an analyst with RBN Energy.
Before the disaster, more than 1.1 billion cubic feet a day of the gas from the pipeline was being exported to the United States. The remainder flows north to Vancouver and along the coast on utility Fortis BC’s system. From there, the pipeline crosses the Strait of Georgia to supply Vancouver Island.