Rough Storage Cleared to Reopen; Injections Could Start in Sep

Centrica’s Rough Storage site in UK has been cleared to reopen by safety inspectors.

• Injections could start at the start of September after securing approval from the Health and Safety Executive.
• The restart is still waiting for an agreement between Centrica and the UK Government on state support and final consents from the North Sea Transition Authority which are not seen as problematic.
• The return would be gradual and would initially take around 800mcm this winter which is about a quarter of total capacity, with hope to double available capacity to 1.7bcm for next winter.
• The site closed due to cost of repairs required to keep it running and previously provided about 3.4bcm or 70% of Britain’s gas storage capacity. The Rough facility is a depleted natural gas field and could store approximately 10 days’ worth of UK gas demand.