A memorandum of understanding has been signed by Statoil with Britain’s Scottish and Southern Energy on establishing a joint venture to build underground gas storage in the UK.
Statoil UK and SSE Hornsea Ltd, a Scottish and Southern Energy subsidiary, have planning permission to build such facilities at Aldbrough South and North respectively in north-east England.
Nine salt caverns will provide a total estimated capacity of 420 million cubic metres, with SSE having the rights to 280 million and Statoil to 140 million cubic metres.
Subject to the joint venture agreement being concluded, SSE will serve as operator and manage design and construction of the storage facility, which is expected to be in operation by the third quarter of 2007.
“The joint venture will cut costs and help to improve health, safety and environmental protection by merging two independent facilities into a single storage,” says Statoil general manager Osvald Arne Olsen.