Energy crisis: Britain wants to reopen a gas storage that has been closed for 5 years

The UK is reopening its largest gas storage facility and will soon start filling it up for the winter. This was reported by the British publication "The Daily Telegraph" .

Centrica, the owner of British Gas, will start pumping natural gas into the Rough depot in early September, with the operators having received approval from the Health and Safety Executive.

This would require a public support agreement between Centrica and the British government, as well as formal approval from the North Sea Passage Authority (NSTA) to resume operations. According to the newspaper, this is "not a problem".

It is noted that gas filling of the warehouse is expected to begin in more than two weeks. The facility has not been used for gas storage since 2017. The UK's Minister for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Kwazi Kwarteng, has also called for its launch to help boost energy security.

Five years ago, Centrica said Rough had reached the end of its useful life and there was no guarantee it would operate safely because the integrity of a number of units was in doubt.

The facility is designed to store about 3.4 billion cubic meters of gas. The facility previously accounted for around 70% of all UK gas capacity.

In addition, about 5 billion cubic meters were created as a "cushion" to hold more pressure. Rough is located on the east coast of England.

Centrica aims to store about 800 million cubic meters of gas there this winter, and 1.7 billion cubic meters for the next winter.

The head of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, warned on June 22 that Europe should be ready to completely cut off Russian gas in the coming winter. According to him, the reduction of gas supplies from Russia should be considered as a harbinger of their complete cessation.

"Moscow is trying to use gas as leverage in the ongoing war with Ukraine. The closer we get to winter, the better we understand Russia's intentions. I am confident that cutting supply will stop Europe from filling its warehouses with gas and reduce Russia's influence during the winter." strengthening," said Birol.