Wood, a renowned global consulting and engineering leader, has secured a contract from Centrica Energy Storage (CES) to revamp the UK's Rough field for potential hydrogen storage in the future.

Source: WoodPLC

Situated in the Southern North Sea, the Rough reservoir has been a safe storage site for natural gas for more than three decades and could meet over half of the UK's hydrogen storage needs.

We are proud to be a part of this innovative redevelopment project, critical to both the UK’s long-term energy security and its industrial decarbonisation commitments.  Hydrogen, alongside offshore wind and carbon capture and storage is vital to the UK’s net zero ambition and will be key to decarbonising industries, transport and power. Wood’s strong heritage in the UK’s offshore and onshore sectors, combined with our deep domain knowledge and engineering expertise means we are uniquely placed to modify and redevelop existing infrastructure, providing safe, reliable energy for the UK’s future requirements.

Steve Nicol, Executive President, Operations at Wood

Wood's front-end engineering design (FEED) contract involves developing new pipelines, an unmanned installation, and onshore injection facilities at the Easington Gas Terminal, marking the initial phase to prepare the field for hydrogen use.

This contract award will generate approximately 50 new positions in the UK.

We have huge ambitions for the future of Rough and our partnership with Wood is an important stepping stone on the path to realising those ambitions. We are ready to invest in futureproofing this critical asset subject to agreeing a regulatory support model that would underpin gas storage investment in the UK.

Martin Scargill, Managing Director, Centrica Energy Storage

CES has outlined plans for the Rough field to become the largest prolonged hydrogen storage facility globally. However, a final decision on investing in the Rough Redevelopment project hinges on a government support model that would bolster gas storage investments in the UK.