Gas Processing
The region offers:
- One of the UK’s largest gas terminal and processing complexes in the UK
- The ability to transport gas to and from mainland Europe
The East of England is home to one of the largest gas terminal complexes in the UK; the Interconnector Bacton terminal on the Norfolk coast.
Bacton is the lynchpin of the UK’s Southern North Sea offshore production with gas produced by 49 fields, operated by seven different companies, flowing into the facility – alongside two critical continental European pipelines.
It is distributed to UK customers via the Transco terminal or to Belgium via the
Interconnector system. In reverse mode, the Interconnector can be used to import gas into the UK.
The £300m Bacton-Balgzand pipeline (BBL) can supply 8% of the UK’s gas needs and is one of the latest new infrastructure developments for the region.
The 24-hour operation of the Interconnector is managed from the control room at the Bacton Terminal. Gas Flow Notices are received from commercial operations advising or revising the energy flow profile throughout the gas day; the compressors at either Bacton or Zeebrugge are controlled to achieve the required flows with optimum efficiency.
Gas quality and plant availability are monitored at Bacton, also tracking any anomalies or operating constraints.
In the next 10 years, under one scenario produced by National Grid, Bacton will be the most significant entry point for gas into the UK.
