The short answer

Natural gas is the energy that largely never arrived in the NWT. Inuvik built a local gas system on the Ikhil field, then had to switch to synthetic gas and trucked LNG when that field declined. The territory-scale answer, the Mackenzie Gas Project pipeline, was cancelled in 2017. For nearly everyone, gas is not a heating option; oil, pellets, propane and electricity are.

The belief: every place has a gas option

In most of populated Canada, natural gas is the assumed default for heating, so it is natural to ask "how do I get gas service in the NWT?" The honest answer is that, for almost everyone, you cannot. The territory has no gas network to connect to and no competitive gas market. Understanding why, and what Inuvik\'s experience shows, is more useful than a how-to that does not apply.

The Inuvik story: local gas, then synthetic and trucked LNG

Inuvik is the closest the NWT came to a local natural-gas utility. Beginning in the late 1990s, Inuvik Gas Ltd. piped natural gas about 50 km from the nearby Ikhil gas field to heat the community and feed its power plant. It worked, until the field\'s supply declined. Rather than abandon gas, the community adapted: it installed a synthetic natural gas system and, by around 2012, shifted to it and to liquefied natural gas trucked in from Alberta and British Columbia. Inuvik still burns a gas-like fuel today, but the simple "local field down a pipeline" model gave way to a more complex, imported supply, a cautionary tale about depending on a single small field in the North.

The lesson Inuvik teaches

A local gas supply in the North is only as durable as the field behind it. When Ikhil declined, Inuvik did not get to keep cheap local gas; it had to truck energy in from thousands of kilometres away. That fragility is exactly why the rest of the territory never bet its heating on gas.

The pipeline that never came: the Mackenzie Gas Project

The reason the NWT never became a gas region at scale is the project that did not happen. The Mackenzie Gas Project was a proposed 1,220 km pipeline that would have carried natural gas from fields in the Mackenzie Delta south to connect with the Alberta system, alongside development of Delta gas fields. After decades of study, regulatory review and shifting economics, it was cancelled in December 2017. Without that backbone, there was never a way to move northern gas to market or to build out a territorial distribution network, so gas remained a local curiosity rather than a heating mainstay.

What this means for you

Practically, do not plan around natural gas in the NWT unless you are in Inuvik or another community with a specific local distributor. A few small utilities exist, Inuvik Gas in Inuvik and Stittco in the Hay River area for gas and propane, but there is no territory-wide network and nothing to "switch" to. For the vast majority of residents, the real heating decision is among oil, wood pellets, propane and electricity, which the heating guide in this series covers, and the gas question is better understood as history than as a live option.

Frequently asked questions

For almost everyone, no. There is no territory-wide gas network and no live competitive gas market. Inuvik has a local distribution system run by Inuvik Gas Ltd., and a few small distributors operate elsewhere, but most NWT homes heat with oil, wood pellets, propane or electricity. The NWT is best understood as a place where natural gas largely did not arrive, rather than a market you can shop.
Inuvik once ran on local natural gas from the nearby Ikhil gas field, delivered through a roughly 50 km pipeline starting in the late 1990s. As the field's supply declined, the community installed a synthetic natural gas system and, by around 2012, shifted to it and to liquefied natural gas (LNG) trucked in from Alberta and British Columbia. So Inuvik still uses a gas-like fuel, but it is no longer the simple local-pipeline supply it began as.
It was a proposed 1,220 km pipeline that would have carried natural gas from fields in the Mackenzie Delta south to Alberta, potentially transforming the territory's energy and economy. After decades of study it was cancelled in December 2017. Its failure is a big reason the NWT never became a natural-gas region: the infrastructure to move the gas at scale was never built.
A few small, local ones. Inuvik Gas serves Inuvik, and in the Hay River area Stittco provides gas and propane service. These are limited local utilities, not a territory-wide network, so for the vast majority of NWT residents the practical heating choices remain oil, wood pellets, propane and electricity.