Impact Of Britain's Gas Strike

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31116, 20 July 1966, Page 19

Impact Of Britain 's Gas Strike

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) LONDON.

Britain’s natural gas strikes under the North Sea will revolutionise her fuel policy and could lead to new industrial towns springing up on the east coast, at present largely agricultural.

This is apart from any gas that may come from Yorkshire, where the first major strike on land in Britain was made in May. Some geologists believe that the gasfield in the deep sands about 40 miles off-shore, may turn out to be among the largest in the world. The Yorkshire land find, near the coast, in north-east England, is regarded as strengthening the theory that there is one vast underground natural gasfield running from Yorkshire and Lincolnshire under the sea and through Holland to north-eastern Germany. One estimate suggests that the British sea-land discoveries indicate a gasfield of about two-thirds the size of the huge natural gasfield at Slochteren, in Holland, the world’s second largest.

If so, new industries would undoubtedly be attracted to the coastal areas for about 200 miles from the Lincolnshire side of the river Humber down to Ipswich in Suffolk. Hitherto the backbone of British industry has been present in the north and mid-

lands, where nearby coal mines have provided a source of energy. Mr R. Marsh, the Minister of Power, is determined to exploit North Sea gas to the full. He has disclosed that the biggest strike so far, a joint effort by the Shell-Esso companies, is alone capable of supplying 1200 million cubic feet a day—-which is 200 million cubic feet more than Britain’s present daily gas consumption. Unofficially, the capacity from five substantial strikes made by the various groups so far is put at 2000 million cubic feet.

Mr March is now urgently revising a five-year plan for the power industries—coal, oil and electricity—made only a year ago, but already out of date. The plan earmarked six per cent of British coal output and one-tenth of oil imports for gas-making by 1970.

But with natural gas possibly available at about 2d a therm, compared with lOd for coal-made gas, leaders of the gas industry hope to win a much bigger share of Britain’s total energy supplies. This, at present, is 6( per cent. Their target is the 30 per cent achieved in the United States.

Nuclear power stations producing electricity are not expected to be affected by competition from gas. Greatest Impact

The industry expected to feel the greatest impact is coal, although this may not come for about five years. Gas is now expected to win

the battle for the domestic central heating market and induce the State-run electricity industry to use it instead of coal for some of its new power stations. Gas cookers in the home and gas plants in industry will have to be converted to take the higher quality natural methane gas. Burners and valves will have to be changed to take a smaller flame because natural gas gives twice the heat of manufactured gas. The cost of the changes, to be borne by the Government, is put at £4OO million, allowing £3O for each of 12 million homes and £4O million for industry. The first gas is expected to flow from the North Sea pipelines at the end of this year. The world’s largest pipelaying vessel will soon start laying the first pipeline from British Petroleum’s gasfield, 42 miles east of the Humber, to the mainland. This 400-ft long, 100 ft wide barge can lay about 10 feet of pipe a minute in good weather. From Algeria The first homes equipped with converted cookers will get their natural gas, not from the North Sea, but from Algeria. This is brought in refrigerated ships and put in storage tanks at the terminal on Canvey Island, in the Thames estuary. At present, this gas is diluted, mixed with conventional, manufactured gas and fed through pipelines into the distribu-

tion system. Soon it will go direct into homes on Canvey Island. Britain will continue to import methane from Algeria for a number of years under a long4erm contract signed before the North Sea gas was found.