A wobble in the Wobbe

While the UK gas industry has been preoccupied with replacing the declining volume of domestic production, the safety characteristics of new supply options has taken a back seat. Liz Bossley talks to Kelvin Beer, of Deloitte Petroleum Services, about the major challenge presented by diverse imported gas quality in the race to secure future supply for the UK market

THE DECLINE of UK continental shelf gas production and the increasing demand for gas in the UK has been well documented, as have likely future sources of imported gas. These are, in order of likelihood: Norway—through existing connections at St Fergus and via the new Langeled pipeline, which will bring gas from the massive Ormen Lange field in northern Norway to Easington on the northeast coast; Algeria, Nigeria and Qatar—supplying LNG (to, if all plans proceed, two receiving terminals in Milford Haven, Wales, and on the Isle of Grain, on the southeast coast of England); and Russia—supply from Russia is considered essential to underpin the proposed link between Balgzand in the Netherlands an