Centrica has struck a multi-billion dollar deal to import gas from the USA, which underlines the expected strength of demand in the UK.
The Scottish Gas owner said it has signed an important long-term agreement with Delfin Midstream for the supply of Liquefied Natural Gas worth $8bn (£6.2bn).
It reckons the cargoes concerned could provide enough energy to heat 5% of UK homes for 15 years.
The company said the transaction was the latest in a series of moves it had made to build further resilience in the UK’s energy security.
Centrica noted it recently concluded a three-year supply agreement with Equinor that it claimed would heat 4.5m UK homes through to 2024. It reopened the Rough gas storage facility in October.
READ MORE: Scottish Government dithers as investors cash in on renewables boom
Chief executive Chris O’Shea said the deal with Delfin Midstream was good news for Centrica’s customers and the UK.
“The last year has demonstrated the critical importance of investing in the UK’s energy security,” said Mr O’Shea. “Addressing the immediate impact of the energy crisis on our customers has been one of our biggest priorities, but I’m acutely aware that we also need to look ahead to manage future risks and secure our supplies.”
He added: "Natural Gas is an essential transition fuel in the move to net zero and securing international agreements such as this are vital to the UK’s energy security.”
Mr O’Shea said Centrica would invest several billion pounds in additional projects, creating thousands of new UK jobs, with the right regulatory framework.
The Government imposed a windfall tax on energy firms in November. A range of firms including Centrica posted bumper profits after gas prices surged amid Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Demand for US gas has increased since curbs were placed on sales of Russian output.
READ MORE: Warning North Sea investment may halve but oil firm boss confident on Cambo
Centrica has a stake in North Sea gas producer Spirit Energy.
The company said the agreement with Delfin will see it take delivery of around 14 LNG cargoes per year on a Free on Board basis. This means Centrica can choose whether to deliver the cargoes to another country.
Delfin Midstream said the deal would help secure the viability of the deepwater LNG export facility which it plans to develop offshore Louisiana. The facility is expected to become operational in 2027.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here