Rough (facility)

Production licences for the Rough field were given in 1964, and gas was first brought ashore to Easington gas processing terminal in 1975. In 1980, British Gas Corporation (which became British Gas plc in 1986 following privatisation) purchased the Rough field with one-third of reserves depleted, with the intention of converting the field into a gas storage facility to manage seasonal trends in the supply and demand of gas in the UK. In 1983, British Gas Corporation made the final decision to convert Rough into a natural gas storage facility. It came into operation in 1985 as the largest gas storage facility built in the UK continental shelf, capable of storing 100 billion cubic feet of gas, nearly double Great Britain's 2021 capacity. The break-up of British Gas plc in 1997 into BG Group and Centrica meant that BG Storage was created as a ring-fenced subsidiary of BG Group, for competition reasons. In 2001, BG Group sold BG Storage, and thus the Rough facility, to Dynegy. In 2002, Centrica bought the plant from Dynegy for £304 million during Dynegy's period of near-bankruptcy. The purchase of Rough led to the Competition Commission requesting certain undertakings being put in place because of Centrica's control of the Morecambe Bay gas fields, which at the time were providing 10–15% of the UK's gas supply. In 2003, Centrica provided DECC with a set of undertakings and Centrica Storage Ltd (a wholly owned subsidiary of Centrica plc) was formed. Centrica Storage Ltd still operates the Rough facility in accordance with the undertakings. ==Profitability==

The facility had made a profit for its owners by exploiting the difference in gas price between summer and winter. Gas was injected for storage when its future price on the commodities futures market rose sufficiently above its current market price. That gas would be sold with a future delivery date, creating an instant profit. It was then held in the facility until the date contracted with the purchaser on which it was required to be delivered. Centrica have both claimed that Rough is loss making and highly profitable. In their 2024 Annual report they claimed that "The Rough gas storage facility was re-opened, at a cost of less than £10m, generating £653m operating profit between 2022 and 2024". However they have also briefed the media that "losses are unsustainable unless the Government agrees to a price-smoothing mechanism." ==Closure and partial reopening==

In June 2017, Centrica announced the closure of the Rough gas storage site on the grounds that it was uneconomical and had reached the end of its design life. In June 2022, owners Centrica submitted an application to the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), the licensing authority for the UK Government, to reopen the facility. Approval was granted in July. On 28 October 2022, Centrica stated that 20% of the capacity of the Rough facility was available for storage, thereby increasing the total storage in the UK by about 50%. Centrica intends to eventually convert Rough into a facility for storing hydrogen. ==Operation==

The facility consists of a partially depleted gas field (the Rough field) in the Southern North Sea, approximately off the east coast of Yorkshire at . The field is divided into two complexes around apart, referred to as Rough Alpha and Rough Bravo. Rough Alpha consists of two platforms linked by bridges and Rough Bravo consists of three bridge-linked platforms. Thirty wells have been drilled to the reservoirs for the purpose of injecting or extracting gas. Additionally, there is an onshore gas-processing terminal at Easington, which compresses gas and transfers it offshore to the Bravo complex through a pipeline. The Bravo platforms have two Rolls-Royce Avon gas turbine engines that drive compressors forcing the gas down to the reservoir, around below the sea bed. The Rough processing terminal forms a part of the larger Easington Gas Terminal, which can inject upwards of 125 million cubic metres per day (approximately 40% of the daily UK supply). The Rough facility is operated by Centrica Storage Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Centrica. Nearly 200 staff and contractors were employed within the operation, both onshore and offshore. At the time of the announcement of the rundown of the facility in June 2017, Rough was the only depleted UK offshore gas field reservoir used for gas storage and retrieval. Several projects have been proposed to use other depleted offshore fields but none has proved to be economically viable; two examples are the Baird and Deborah gas storage projects off the North Norfolk coast. ==Offshore facilities==

The offshore installations and their details and functions were as follows. ==References==