UK gas supplies receive much needed boost for winter

Lord Truscott, Parliamentary Under Secretary (unpaid) at the DTI will be in Bacton today to mark the opening of the new 500 Mn. Euro BBL Balgzand Bacton interconnector. He will say as the gas starts to flow (it was tested this week) ;

"Gas is now flowing this winter through three pipelines. BBL and the new Langeled pipeline from Norway join the existing Belgian Interconnector and liquefied natural gas brought into the Isle of Grain on the Thames estuary. Next year there'll be additional imports of liquefied natural gas into Teesside and later Milford Haven in South West Wales, contributing to a healthy diversity of supply".

The 36" BBL (capacity of 16 billion cu. meters/ year) pipeline is 235 Kms long of which only 5 km is onshore, and has been constructed in 2 years since the signing of the Dutch / UK treaty signed in 2005. Alastair Darling the DTI Minister points out that it can carry up to 8% of UK gas supplies ( capacity is around 42 million cubic metres of gas a day.)- at current consumption which is due to increase dramatically in the next 5 years.

Whilst claimed to boost energy security by the Minister, the BBL pipeline will be 9% owned by state owned Russian Gazprom which they bought off Dutch Gasunie in exchange for a share by Gasunie (who now own 51%) in the North European Gas Pipeline to become their third and last foreign partner in Nordstream. The other partners who each hold 20% are the German E.ON and BASF. So the UK have no direct financial interest in building or controlling the pipeline.

Whilst the connector will carry gas from the Dutch Groningen fields it must be remembered ,the Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs is responsible for determining the rate of production from Dutch gas reserves. This is mandated in the Dutch Gas Act.

To cross the Dutch dunes a novel and technically complex Horizontal Directional Drilling system was used , a hole was drilled under the dunes through which a pipeline was fed thus minimising environmental impact.

The pipeline has been welded at sea onboard the Castoro Sei (see pic) of the Italian company Saipem (43% owned by Eni)) and lowered into position on the sea bed. With this method it was possible to install in average 3 km per day. The maximum lay rate was an astonishing 4.9 km per day.

So whilst the Ministers will boast of energy security, this is provided by a mix of German and Dutch investors, using Italian technology, supplying Dutch gas which is controlled by the Dutch Government and allows the Russian State Gazprom access to the UK market.

This children is called "energy security".

Lord (Peter) Truscott was an MEP for Hertfordshire 1994/9 - PhD from Oxford, he has written extensively on foreign and security policy. Specialist on the former Soviet Union and European security, he was visiting Research Fellow with the Institute for Public Policy Research from 1999 - 2000. He was recently an Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies. His major publications include Russia First (1997), European Defence (2000), Kursk, (2002) and Putin's Progress (2004). Became Minister when Lord Sainsbury resigned on 10th November 2006 to spend more time with his money - fair bet he has some interesting views on Mr Litvinenko's sudden illness.