Gassco considering operatorship of UK Langeled terminal from 2011
Norwegian offshore pipeline operator Gassco is considering taking operatorship of the Langeled receiving terminal at Easington in the UK, where gas from Norway arrives through the Langeled pipeline, ICIS Heren understands. Centrica Storage Limited (CSL) has a contract to operate the terminal until 2011, at which point the Norwegian state-owned operator has the right to take over. CSL previously told ICIS Heren it hoped the contract would be renewed (see ESGM 12.188).
Neither company would comment this week on the likelihood of a switch and studies within Gassco are understood to be at an early stage.
Gassco has pursued a policy of taking operatorship at continental European terminals where Norwegian gas lands. In July last year Gassco took operational control of Dornum and Emden in Germany, Zeebrugge in Belgium and Dunkirque in France from Statoil and US major ConocoPhillips.
Gassco previously commented that as an independent pipeline operator it was better suited to operate terminals than Statoil or ConocoPhillips. “As the final stage before the market, the European gas terminals have a special function. Exercising an operator responsibility which also embraces technical operation supports the independence which is fundamental to our activity,” the company said in a statement last July. Presumably the same argument will apply to Centrica and maybe also to Total, the operator of the St. Fergus receiving terminal for Norway’s Vesterled pipeline in Scotland.
Centrica operates another terminal onshore next to the Langeled site, which processes gas from the Rough storage facility and the Amethyst, Rose and Helvellyn fields. Centrica also stores condensate from Rough at the onshore site, meters it and sends it to BP for processing at Dimlington. LB
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