Centrica produces first gas from Rose field

Centrica plc today announced it has produced first gas ahead of schedule from its Rose field in the Southern North Sea, just over one year since acquiring sole equity in the development.

Rose is a £50 million fast track project which was due on stream during the first quarter of 2004. First gas was achieved on Saturday 10 January.

Gas from Rose will be added to Centrica’s portfolio to help meet its customer demand and power generation needs. Together with its operated fields and interests in twelve producing or development stage gas assets, Centrica is able to meet more than 20% of customer demand from its own sources.

Rose has been developed as a subsea well tied back to the BP operated Amethyst field, with the well testing at a rate of 120 million standard cubic feet per day – a higher than anticipated deliverability. Rose gas will mix with Amethyst before being passed for processing at Centrica’s Easington terminal.

Jake Ulrich, Managing Director of Centrica Energy Management Group, said: “Through bringing the Rose field on stream ahead of schedule, Centrica has demonstrated a strong ability to deliver development stage gas projects that are a good fit with our downstream supply needs.

“As part of our asset management strategy, we expect to look at similar projects in the future, enabling us to continue meeting a proportion of customer demand from our own sources.”