Centrica gains approval to withdraw gas from Rough storage site

LONDON (Reuters) — British energy supplier Centrica said on Tuesday it had got permission from the country’s oil and gas regulator to withdraw gas from its Rough storage site, which it has decided to close.

Photo courtesy of Centrica.

In June, Centrica applied to the Oil and Gas Authority for permission to withdraw the remaining stocks and some cushion gas from its Rough site following its planned maintenance period which is due to end in October.

Cushion gas is the minimum volume of gas required in an underground storage reservoir to provide the necessary pressure to deliver working gas volumes to customers.

Rough is Britain’s largest natural gas storage site but at more than 30 yr old has suffered from prolonged outages due to issues with the integrity of its wells.

Centrica Storage Limited (CSL) said it had got consent to produce up to 0.868 Bcm (30.7 Bcf) of indigenous gas and associated liquids from the site.

“Withdrawal of the gas will start once maintenance at the site ends in early October,” a spokesman for Centrica said.

All of the 0.868 Bcm of gas is expected to be withdrawn by the end of March 2018, he said.

CSL said this application is an interim safety measure and is separate from the on-going process the company is following to obtain all regulatory consents and permits required to produce the recoverable gas from Rough.

Reporting by Susanna Twidale and Nina Chestney. Editing by Jane Merriman

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