page_title: Rough (facility)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Rough (facility) / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Easington Natural Gas Terminal, Easington, East Riding of Yorkshire, England.Between 1975 and 2006 the Easington gas terminal's main functions were to receive and separate natural gas from the Rough offshore field and the BP operated Amethyst field, to receive treated gas from BP's Dimlington terminal and transfer it into the National Transmission System, and to withdraw gas from the National Transmission System during periods of low gas demand and re-inject it into the Rough field for storage. In October 2006 the Easington end of Langeled was opened, a 1,200 kilometre long subsea gas pipeline connecting the Ormen Lange field's gas plant at Nyhamna in Aukra, Norway, with the reception facility here in Easington. Langeled is expected to supply the UK with 20 per cent of its gas requirements for now and the near future.
context_page_description: Rough is a former natural gas storage facility situated off the east coast of England. In June 2017, Centrica Storage Ltd announced that gas injection and storage would cease.
context_section_description: Production licences for the Rough field were given in 1964, and gas was first brought ashore to Easington gas processing terminal in 1975. In 1980 BG Corporation (which became British Gas plc in 1986 following privatisation) purchased the Rough field with one third of reserves depleted, with the intention of converting the field into a gas storage facility to manage seasonal trends in the supply and demand of gas in the UK. In 1983 BG Corporation made the final decision to convert Rough into a natural gas storage facility which became operational in 1985 as the largest gas storage facility built in the UK continental shelf.
  The break-up of BG Corporation in 1997 into BG Group and Centrica meant that BG Storage was created as a standalone business, for competition reasons. In 2001, BG Storage sold the Rough facility to Dynegy. In 2002, Centrica bought the plant back from Dynergy for £304 million during its period of near-bankruptcy. The purchase of Rough led to the Competition Commission requesting certain undertakings being put in place due to Centrica's control of the Morecambe Bay gas fields which at the time were providing 10–15% of the UK's gas supply. In 2003 Centrica provided DECC with a set of undertakings and Centrica Storage Ltd (a wholly owned subsidiary of Centrica Plc) was formed. Centrica Storage Ltd still operates the Rough facility in accordance with the undertakings.
  In June 2017, Centrica announced the closure of the Rough gas storage site due to safety concerns. The rundown of the plant will take up to four years to complete.
caption: Easington gas terminal. From here the gas flow in and out of the Rough Field is managed.
exif: {"Image Make": "OLYMPUS OPTICAL CO.,LTD", "Image Model": "C3030Z", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "QuickTime 7.1.3", "Image DateTime": "2007:01:05 07:12:54", "Image HostComputer": "Mac OS X 10.4.8", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "258", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "618", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4705", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/200", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:01:04 10:12:15", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:01:04 10:12:15", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "33/5", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB"}