Concern over UK natural gas supplies for the coming winter and beyond were allayed somewhat last month by energy minister Malcolm Wicks.
Speaking during the first visit to the UK of the new Norwegian minister for petroleum and energy, Odd Roger Enoksen, Wicks said: ‘The UK is in transition from energy island to net importer and our partnership with Norway is a mutually beneficial component of this. The treaty we signed earlier this year means that the first part of the new Langeled pipeline will be feeding Norwegian gas into the UK network for next winter.’
‘Another new pipeline from the Netherlands and an upgrade to the existing interconnector with Belgium will also bring new bulk supplies into the UK market by next winter,’ he added. ‘Beyond that, two major liquefied natural gas [LNG] terminals in Pembrokeshire will bring in new supplies from further afield and new gas storage facilities over the coming years will help industry manage supply and demand.’
As to the immediate future, he explained that ‘all of this is in addition to improvements already on stream before this coming winter — an LNG terminal up and running in the Thames estuary, improvements to storage capacity at Rough and Humbly Grove and an initial upgrade to the interconnector with Belgium due to be on stream within weeks.’
The Langeled pipeline is due to deliver gas to the UK by 2006 and could meet up to 16% of peak UK demand. It is said by the DTI to be one of a number of developments and facilities that will see the UK’s gas supply capability rise by 28% by 2006/7.
