The underground storage of natural gas plays an important role in the supply management strategy of natural gas providers since it permits the storage of natural gas during the low demand period and to reinject it into the network during the periods of high consumption. Such installations are highly useful in areas such as Quebec because of the weather conditions and seasonal variations.

All the natural gas consumed in Quebec comes by pipeline down from western Canada and the gas network does not have the capacity to supply the additional quantities required when the consumption is at its highest. In order to address the problem of the surge in demand for gas during the high consumption period, the distributor Gaz Métropolitain takes advantage of the summer period (low season) to store natural (mostly at a lower cost) in order to resell it when the high consumption period arrives.

Developing installations such as these is extremely beneficial for a company since the equipment is providing guaranteed revenues which are recurrent every year. Moreover, the useful life of this type of installation is unlimited, under the condition that the economical environment and the gas market do not undergo modifications which would render the storage activity useless.

There are currently two natural gas underground storages in operation in Quebec; one in Saint-Flavien and the other in Pointe-du-Lac. Both were natural gas fields which were exploited and afterwards transformed into underground storage. In 2004, Gaz Métropolitain bought a 60% participation into these two underground reservoirs for $90 million.