22nd Sep 2008 07:00
Centrica plc, the parent company of British Gas, today announced its secondsignificant gas storage project this year, the acquisition of Caythorpe GasStorage Limited (CGSL) from Warwick Energy for £70 million in cash. CGSL owns the onshore Caythorpe gas producing field near Bridlington in EastYorkshire, which is a substantially depleted onshore gas field located close tothe National Transmission System. Caythorpe has planning permission for conversion to an onshore gas storagefacility with a capacity of up to 7.5 billion cubic feet [bcf] of gas. Theproject would require additional capital investment of around £100 million andcould be operational by the winter of 2011/12. Caythorpe will have a much faster injection and withdrawal rate than Centrica'sRough gas storage facility, which is offshore from Easington. Sam Laidlaw, chief executive of Centrica, said: "With the UK rapidly becomingmore dependent on imported gas, increasing the country's gas storage capacity isan essential element in giving our customers security of supply. Caythorpe addsto Centrica's existing investment programme, giving us more flexibility in ourstorage portfolio with its faster injection and withdrawal rates." Caythorpe is the second significant storage investment project to be announcedthis year by Centrica. In March Centrica, together with its partners, announceda development study aimed at converting the largely depleted Bains gas field,near to Morecambe Bay, into a facility with potentially up to 20bcf of storagecapacity. Rough, the UK's biggest gas storage facility with approximately 118bcfof capacity, was acquired by Centrica in 2002. \* TEnquiries: Centrica Investor Relations: 01753 494900Centrica Media Relations: 0845 072 8001\* T Note to editors: The UK currently has enough gas storage to cover only approximately 5% ofaverage annual gas demand, or around 16 days of average demand. This compareswith 24%, or 88 days, in France and 21%, or 77 days, in Germany. Copyright Business Wire 2008Related Shares:
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