Centrica cleared to operate ‘UK’s largest gas storage facility’ for another year

Energy company Centrica Offshore UK has received an extension of its license to operate a gas storage site in the Southern North Sea off the East Coast of England from the country’s regulator, North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA).

Thanks to the extension, Centrica will stay at the helm of the Rough gas storage site until April 30, 2026. According to the NSTA, this will enable Rough to continue to support the UK’s energy security.

Centrica Energy Storage+ (CES+) is the owner and operator of Rough, described as the UK’s largest gas storage facility. According to Centrica’s 2024 annual report, CES+ has increased the capacity at Rough to 54 billion cubic feet (bcf). Furthermore, options are being explored to make it hydrogen-ready over the next decade.

The UK firm believes the Rough gas storage facility plays a key role in supporting the UK’s energy security by providing more than 50% of the country’s gas storage. Operating at 95% availability during 2024, Rough is believed to have the potential to help the UK manage higher heating demand during winter and keep prices down.

“We believe Rough could play a valuable role in a decarbonised energy system and we are prepared to invest £2 billion in re-developing the site as Europe’s largest hydrogen storage facility, subject to agreeing a new regulatory model with the UK Government,” noted Centrica. “Constructive discussions with the UK Government are ongoing.”

The company considers Rough to be the key to a sustainable energy transition as it believes the site has the potential to cut energy costs by an additional £1 billion per year by 2050 if converted to hydrogen storage.

Centrica Chair, Kevin O’Byrne, said: “We expect Rough to make a loss of between £50m and £100m in 2025. We have completed all of the preparatory work to enable a £2bn investment to be taken to redevelop Rough for gas and hydrogen storage over the next 45 years, but without a regulatory model to underpin the investment, we cannot make this investment.

“While the site plays an important role in the UK’s energy and price security, and can be a crucial part of the future hydrogen economy, making material losses is not sustainable on an open-ended basis and we will update on the future of Rough in the coming months.”

According to Centrica, the facility stopped storing gas in 2017 but was reopened for gas storage in October 2022, and its capacity was doubled in the summer of 2023. The firm stated that Rough reached a new record fill level on November 5, 2024 – the fullest the site has been since reopening in 2022.

More recently, Centrica inked a sales and purchase agreement (SPA) with Petrobras, which is set to purchase 0.8 million tons per annum (mtpa) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for 15 years under the deal starting in 2027.