Centrica, Mobil, Arco and Eastern cancel the Welland contracts

Centrica plc, Mobil North Sea Limited, ARCO British Limited and Eastern Natural Gas (Offshore) Limited have reached agreement on the termination of the Welland gas sale and purchase contracts. The contracts will terminate immediately; in return Centrica will pay consideration to the other companies involved.

Centrica and Mobil had already renegotiated the price under their Welland contract as part of the larger agreement reached in December 1996. Now all further commitments in respect of the whole field are to be cancelled; the volume of gas involved is approximately one billion therms.

Overall Centrica has now renegotiated its price and volume commitments on more than 40 billion therms.