ONG: Conserve Or Risk Losing Natural Gas At Home

People who use natural gas to heat their homes are being asked to turn the thermostat down and conserve.

That's not to save on your bill, but to make sure you don't lose gas altogether during the artic blast.

It's so cold that it's freezing production at wells and limiting what can be pulled from reserves.

This is happening to gas companies throughout the country.

Oklahoma Natural Gas said it needs to make existing supplies last as long as possible. 

“We could see widespread outages across our service territory. This means customers could lose gas to homes and businesses,” said Kent Shortridge, Managing VP with Oklahoma Natural Gas.

ONG has to go out to each home to restore gas if it’s lost.

It's not a flip of the switch. It will take time Shortridge said.

In the last two weeks, natural gas prices have gone from $3 per million BTUs to $600 per million BTUs in some cases.

On Monday, The Oklahoma Corporation Commission voted to temporarily eliminate certain restrictions on natural gas producers to increase supply.