NAFTA continues expanding its know-how in the United Kingdom

Entering into the British market has strengthened the company’s underground gas storage sector position in Europe. Today, NAFTA operates and develops facilities providing more than 64 TWh of storage capacity in several European countries, contributing significantly toward secure gas supplies. Humbly Grove was purchased by EP UK Investments Ltd, which along with NAFTA is a member of the EPH energy group, and has been added to its portfolio. NAFTA had earlier managed the acquisition of the underground storage facility for EPH in the role of technical advisor.

The closure in June 2017 for safety reasons of Rough, an underground storage facility that had been operated by Centrica Storage Ltd, cost the country altogether about 3.2 billion m3, a substantial part of its storage capacity. Humbly Grove is located close to Alton, a city in Hampshire about 50 kilometers southwest of London. Following the closure of Rough, Humbly Grove is now one of the largest natural gas storage facilities in the UK, with a working capacity of 243.5 million m3 of natural gas that accounts for around 14% of its total storage capacity. Therefore, its impact on the security of the UK’s gas supply is significant.

According to available data, the UK's current storage capacity fluctuates around 1.7 billion m3, with a major portion (1.3 billion m3) in salt caverns. The remainder (0.4 billion m3) is stored in injected gas and crude oil reservoirs. One of these two storage facilities is at Humbly Grove, where gas is stored in geological structures at a field still pumping crude oil, so increasing its productivity. NAFTA has almost 50 years of experience operating underground storage facilities at productive gas and oil fields.