Centrica secures East Irish Sea contract

Centrica plc has today secured agreement with Burlington Resources (Irish Sea) Limited to process gas from the Rivers fields in the East Irish Sea and to operate their new offshore and onshore facilities.

Processing will take place at the British Gas Hydrocarbon Resources Limited (HRL) terminals at Barrow-in-Furness. Subject to relevant planning permissions, the first gas is expected to be delivered to the national transmission system by early 2004.

HRL operates the North and South Morecambe gas fields and onshore processing terminals at Barrow and has been working with Burlington since1999, processing gas from its Millom and Dalton fields.

The Rivers gas will come ashore from reservoirs located close to Centrica’s own South Morecambe field. The fields are estimated to contain recoverable reserves of 350 to 400 billion cubic feet.

John Shears, Centrica’s Director and General Manager, Assets Group, said: “This is good news for Centrica, recognising our track record in the Morecambe fields since offshore developments in the East Irish Sea started more than 20 years ago and the considerable expertise that exists in the region. We look forward to extending our working relationship with Burlington through this project.”