Alton Natural Gas Storage L.P.

To help meet the increasing demand for natural gas in Nova Scotia, Alton Natural Gas Storage L.P. is developing an underground natural gas storage facility and associated pipelines near Alton, Nova Scotia.

The Alton Natural Gas Storage facility will support Nova Scotia's need for dependable, clean, and economical energy, especially during the winter season. The facility will consist of underground salt caverns to store natural gas until it is needed for heating homes, businesses, hospitals, universities and potentially for gas-fired electricity generation.

Salt caverns for gas storage are a proven and safe system for storing natural gas. The caverns will be approximately 1,000 metres deep. To provide hole stability and protect any porous formations, two strings of protective casings were set and cemented during the drilling operations. The caverns will take two to three years to complete once brining begins.

Alton Natural Gas Storage will consist of:

• Underground natural gas storage facility consisting of engineered salt caverns in the Stewiacke Salt Formation, approximately 60 kilometres from Halifax, Nova Scotia.
• Lateral gas pipeline linking the Alton facility with the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline natural gas transmission system
• Water pipelines from the facility to the convergence of the Shubenacadie and Stewiacke Rivers for the cavern development process.

The location of Alton Natural Gas Storage is ideal because of the presence of the salt formation, the proximity of a water source for solution mining, and the nearby Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline  (M&NP) natural gas pipeline.

Alton Natural Gas Storage will be the only natural gas storage facility in Atlantic Canada and the only storage facility connected to M&NP. It will help provide Nova Scotians with secure, affordable and reliable natural gas year-round.

The project has received all environmental and major regulatory approvals to proceed with development. Construction at the site, which included clearing, facility pads and roads, started in 2008. Drilling has been completed on the three natural gas storage salt caverns and the start date for brining is being determined.