The BBL Company will make gas transportation possible in both directions through the BBL pipeline from U.K. to Netherlands from the autumn of 2019, the company announced on Thursday.
This decision will ensure that the gas currently transported physically through the BBL pipeline from the Netherlands to the U.K., through modifications to the pipeline network at the compressor station at Anna Paulowna, will become bidirectional.
“We have noticed a demand for pipeline capacity to transport gas from the U.K. to the European continent, particularly during summer," Luuk Feenstra, managing director of the BBL company, which is 60 percent owned by Dutch state-owned Gasunie, was quoted as saying.
He explained that during the summer months more gas is collectively produced and supplied to the U.K. via Norwegian pipelines from the North Sea fields in the form of LNG than is sold.
"Seasonal storage facilities in the U.K. have insufficient capacity to store this surplus gas, partly due to the decommissioning of the Rough storage, which used to be Britain’s largest gas storage facility," he added.
The U.K. approved a request on Wednesday, Dec. 13 from the operators of the Rough Natural Gas Storage Facility to close it down due to the age and condition of the asset.
The Rough facility is used by market participants to store gas in the summer and deliver that gas to meet peak demand in the winter.
The Netherlands and Germany have much more storage capacity than the U.K. and it is therefore expected that during the summer months more demand for gas transportation capacity from the U.K. to the Netherlands will be seen, and in the opposite direction during the winter.
By Ebru Sengul
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr