§ Bob SpinkTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make it her policy to consult the people of Canvey Island on the provision of(a) new and (b) re-furbished gas storage facilities on Canvey Island. [74331]
§ Mr. WilsonIf planning permission is sought for gas storage facilities at Canvey Island, it would fall to the local planning authority, or on appeal to my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister, to determine. The planning process provides an opportunity for the public to express their views on a proposal.
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§ Bob SpinkTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what policies she has to increase gas storage facilities. [74297]
§ Mr. WilsonThe Government's policy is to ensure an appropriate regulatory regime for the gas market in Great Britain, and to keep security of gas supply under review through the work of the DTI-Ofgem Joint Energy Security of Supply (JESS) Group. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and Ofgem (the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets) both act under a duty to exercise their relevant functions under the Gas Act 1986 (as amended) so as to protect the interests of consumers. The 1st Report of JESS, dated June 2002, drew attention to the possibility that peak gas demand could exceed maximum gas supply within the next few years if investment in gas storage/infrastructure is delayed. My Department has this year written to two local planning authorities considering proposals for new gas storage facilities about the national need for additional gas storage capacity.
§ Bob SpinkTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the constituencies where there are(a) operational and (b) potential bulk gas storage facilities suitable for transmission into the National Grid. [74325]
§ Mr. WilsonThe major gas storage facility serving the market in Great Britain is the partially depleted Rough field in the Southern North Sea. The main existing onshore facilities are: Hornsea, east Yorkshire; five LNG (liquefied natural gas) storage facilities which are integral to the national transmission system and are owned and operated by Transco (at Avonmouth, Avon; Dynevor Arms, mid-Glamorgan; Glenmavis, Lanarkshire; Isle of Grain, Kent; and Partington, Lancashire); and two facilities which recently commissioned, at Hatfield Moor in east Yorkshire and Hole House Farm in Cheshire. A proposed facility at Aldborough, east Yorkshire. has secured planning permission and is under development. In addition a project at Byley in Cheshire is currently seeking planning permission, and a project at Fleetwood in Lancashire is understood to be close to applying for planning permission.
§ Bob SpinkTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what policies she has to expand the pan-European gas transmission network to improve UK access to imported gas; what estimate she has made of the cost of expanding the network; and if she will make a statement. [74356]
§ Mr. WilsonThe Government's policy is to ensure an appropriate regulatory regime for the gas market in Great Britain, and to keep security of gas supply under review through the work of the DTI-Ofgem Joint Energy Security of Supply Group. There are a number of commercial projects to increase UK access to imported gas. These include new contractual arrangements and improved connections from the Norwegian Continental Shelf; increasing the import capacity of the existing gas interconnector pipe-line between the UK and Belgium; an additional interconnector between the Netherlands and the UK; and a number of projects to import LNG (liquefied natural gas) into the UK. The costs in each case are a commercial matter. The new price control that Ofgem 69W has put in place to regulate Transco as transmission system operator is designed to make Transco's investments in the national transmission system for gas more responsive to market needs, including new patterns of supply as we become increasingly dependent on imported gas.
§ Bob SpinkTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in which constituencies there are(a) operational and (b) potential liquified gas unloading facilities for the importation of liquefied gas by sea; and what plans she has to utilise these facilities. [74358]
§ Mr. WilsonThere are no existing operational LNG (liquefied natural gas) importation facilities. I understand that there are commercial plans for the development of LNG import facilities at the Isle of Grain and Milford Haven. Utilisation of such facilities would be a commercial matter.