Centrica increases gas storage capacity at rough offshore facility

Following further engineering and investment, Centrica has announced increased gas storage capacity at Rough, the UK’s largest gas storage facility.

The facility, located 40 kilometers off the East Yorkshire coast, stopped gas storage in 2017 but reopened for gas storage in October 2022. Rough now supplies half of the UK’s total gas storage.

By the time the Ruff reopened for gas storage, around 30 billion cubic feet (cf) of gas had been stored for UK homes and businesses. With further investment in the facility, Ruff will now be able to store up to 54cf of gas, increasing the UK’s energy resilience in the coming winter – providing the equivalent of gas to heat 2.4 million homes over the winter.

A long-term goal

The UK has a diverse gas supply with connections to Norway and other European countries and 3 LNG import terminals. However, Europe still has low levels of gas storage at 12 days on average, or 7.5 peak winter days, compared to Germany at 89 days, France at 103 days and the Netherlands at 123 days.

Centrica’s long-term ambition is to transform the rugged gas field into the world’s largest long-term, low-carbon energy storage facility capable of storing both natural gas and hydrogen.

Source and image: Centrica