Centrica gets green light to reopen massive Rough gas storage facility
An industry regulator has given the green light to reopen the Rough gas storage site off the East Yorkshire coast.
Rough, 18 miles off the East Yorkshire coast, provided 70% of Britain’s natural gas storage capacity until 2017, when government support ended and Centrica found it too expensive to operate..
The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) has now granted Centrica Offshore UK Limited (COUK) permission to restart the facility.
It means COUK has now received all the required NSTA regulatory approvals to commence gas storage operations.
Rough includes two offshore platforms in the southern North Sea, linked to a gas processing terminal at Easington.
Centrica’s chief executive, Chris O’Shea, said last month the company was carrying out engineering work to enable the site to reopen. He added the business would be prepared to invest £2bn in the project.
Countries across Europe have been building up their gas stocks ahead of winter to prepare for disruptions to supply of Russian gas. But the UK has had very little storage capacity since Rough’s closure.
