Gas storage project will create over 1,000 jobs, says developer

THE firm proposing to convert salt fields at Preesall in Lancashire into underground gas storage chambers has said the project would lead to a £660m investment in the economy and create over 1,000 jobs per year over an eight-year period.

US-owned Halite Energy Group said that a report it commissioned from economic development company Regeneris stated that if the project is granted approval next year, some 3,000 jobs would be created during peak construction and that an average of 1,200 jobs a year during the eight-year construction phase. The chambers will also provide 35 permanent jobs once the project is complete.

The report states that 90% of the money invested in the project would remain in the UK and pledged that it would source construction work in the local area, where possible.

Halite Energy is lobbying hard to gain approval for the chambers after the most recent of four previous to gain planning for underground gas chambers was thrown out in January 2010.

However, Halite Energy chairman Dr John Roberts – a former chief executive of United Utilities – said the entire project and the team delivering it had completely changed since it was last thrown out.

The new proposal is half the size of the previous project and involves storing 20bn cubic feet of gas in 19 chambers which are up to 1,000 ft below ground.

The plans have faced vocal opposition from a number of local community groups, however, who have expressed concerns about safety and its proximity to major town centres.

Protect Wyre Group argues that the site is too close to surrounding towns such as Fleetwood, Thornton and Cleveleys, and that there is a risk of gas migrating from the chambers. It has also expressed concerns about the potential environmental damage.

However, Dr Roberts argues that there is an “urgent need” to bring forward the scheme, as it would boost Britain’s gas storage capacity by 20%. It would store enough gas to power the UK for three days, and the new Regeneris report states that the UK currently only stores enough gas for 14 days, compared with 59 in Italy, 69 in Germany and 87 in France.

Dr Roberts argued that gas storage in salt caverns had already been carried out in Cheshire “for a number of years and there have been no problems at all”.

He also said there had been a long history of such use in continental Europe.

“It has a solid safety record,” he told TheBusinessDesk.com. “We are absolutely convinced of that.”

He also said the company was “absolutely committed to ensuring that Lancashire benefits from the project”, by using local contractors wherever possible and by inserting clauses into agreements with national contracts to ensure that they also use local labour.

“During the coming months we will be engaging with local businesses, schools, colleges, universities and a range of other stakeholders to explore every opportunity to generate jobs locally, invest in the supply chain in Lancashire and utilise the project as an educational resource for young people.”

Halite Energy is majority owned by US-based private equity firm D.E. Shaw and is backed by French banking giant BNP Paribas.