Centrica signs £5.3bn contract with Gasunie

Fuente: Financial Times

Britain made a further move on Tuesday to shore up its natural gas supplies with a 10-year purchase agreement worth more than £5bn ($7.5bn) with Gasunie, the former Dutch state-controlled monopoly.

It is the second large continental European gas purchase to be announced this month by Centrica, Britain's biggest gas supplier. The group, which trades as British Gas, two weeks announced a 10-year NKr50bn ($6.3bn) gas supply contract with Statoil, Norway's largest oil company.

Gasunie and Statoil are considering whether to build new import pipelines to Britain to support the contracts.

The country will become increasingly reliant on imports over the next two decades as demand for natural gas to fuel power stations and industry and heat homes outstrips the country's North Sea production.

A report commissioned by Tony Blair, the prime minister, warned earlier this year that more than 80 per cent of Britain's gas may need to be imported by 2020.

Sir Roy Gardner, Centrica's chief executive, said the Gasunie and Statoil contracts would meet about 30 per cent of Centrica current needs and more than 10 per cent of total UK demand.

Prices under both deals will reflect prevailing wholesale charges in the UK gas market said Centrica. Continental European gas prices traditionally are linked to world oil prices.

Statoil last summer also agreed a 15 year supply contract, thought to be worth about $2bn, with BP, the UK's biggest gas producer.

The contracts come against the backcloth of increasing European gas market liberalisation following EU directives requiring member countries to open a rising proportion of their energy markets to competition.

George Verberg, chief executive of Gasunie, said: "We are very satisfied with this long-term agreement [with Centrica]. For us it is a successful way of coping with our loss of market share due to the effects of liberalisation in our country."

Gasunie has seen its share of the Dutch industrial market slip from virtually 100 per cent to 70 per cent.

The Dutch government, which owns 50 per cent of Gasunie with Shell and ExxonMobil each owning 25 per cent, plans to split the company into three next year.

A new state-owned firm will take over the national gas grid, while Shell and ExxonMobil will inherit separate gas supply businesses.

In a separate deal, ExxonMobil announced that it had signed an agreement with Qatar Petroleum to import liquified natural gas. ExxonMobil said it was investigating a number of potential sites for a UK import terminal.

Brian Wilson, energy minister said: “I welcome these signs that industry is taking active steps to ensure that gas demand can be met in future. We must continue to push for as diverse and sustainable an energy supply as possible.”