Portland Gas Project Under Appraisal

 

TIDMPTG 
 
RNS Number : 0178C 
Portland Gas plc 
05 November 2009 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
5 November 2009  For Immediate Release 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Portland Gas plc 
 
 
European Investment Bank places the Portland Gas Storage Project under appraisal 
 
 
 
 
The Directors of Portland Gas plc (AIM: PTG) ("the Company") are pleased to 
announce that the European Investment Bank ("EIB") has confirmed that it has 
listed the Portland Gas Storage Project in its pipeline of projects under 
appraisal. 
 
 
The EIB supports projects which contribute to energy diversification and 
security at EU level. The pipeline of projects under appraisal by the EIB are 
listed on the website  http://www.eib.org/projects/pipeline/index.htm. 
 
 
Commenting on the news, Andrew Hindle, CEO of Portland Gas plc said: 
 
 
"We are delighted that the Portland Project, which will support energy security 
of supply and the efficient functioning of the gas market, has received this 
under appraisal status from the EIB." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
For further information please contact: 
 
 
Portland Gas plc 
 
 
Andrew Hindle, Chief Executive Officer                 020 8332 1200 
Craig Gouws, Chief Financial Officer 
 
 
PR - Watershed 
 
 
Sara Hudston                                01308 420785 
 
 
Investor Relations - Buchanan Communications 
Ben Willey                                       020 7466 5000 
 
 
Nominated Advisor and Broker - Seymour Pierce 
 
 
Jonathan Wright                                   020 7107 8000 
Sarah Jacobs 
Richard Redmayne 
 
 
 
 
  Notes to Editors: 
 
 
Background on Portland Gas plc 
 
 
Portland Gas' business is focused on the development of two gas storage projects 
in the United Kingdom at Portland, Dorset and at Islandmagee, County Antrim, 
Northern Ireland. The two projects could between them provide over 10% of the 
total UK and Ireland peak daily demand in the latter part of the next decade. 
The Company is also developing new projects in mainland Europe initially 
focussing on Germany and Spain. The Company is one of only a few in Europe 
focused specifically on gas storage development, a sector with significant 
growth potential in Europe over the coming decades. In order that the "Portland 
Gas" name can remain with the Portland Project where it is very well established 
in Dorset, the Directors intend to seek approval at the next Annual General 
Meeting of the Company, scheduled for December 2009, to change the name of 
Portland Gas plc to "Infrastrata plc". The Portland Project company, Portland 
Gas Holdings Limited, would then be renamed to "Portland Gas Limited". 
 
 
Portland Project 
 
 
At a projected 1,000 million cubic metres ("mcm") or 35 billion cubic feet 
("bcf") of working gas, the facility would be the largest onshore gas storage 
facility in the UK. Planning permission was granted by Dorset County Council in 
May 2008 and Pipeline Construction Authorisation was granted by the BERR (now 
known as the Department of Energy and Climate Change) in July 2008. The gas 
storage facility is designed to inject or withdraw gas at 20mcm per day. The 
current estimate of total development cost for the project is GBP456m. The 
project will use brine compensation technology and will not require cushion gas. 
 
 
In October 2009 a Co-operation Group ("Group") was established consisting of 
five companies who have each expressed an interest in possibly acquiring a 
working interest in the Portland Project, together with Infrastrata UK Limited 
(the subsidiary of Portland Gas plc that currently owns Portland Gas Holdings 
Limited ("PGL")). The Group will work together to conduct a feasibility study in 
respect of the Project. PGL's legal advisor, Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP, will 
draw up a Shareholders' Agreement and a separate Capacity Agreement. In 
parallel, PGL's project finance advisor, BNP Paribas, will work on the 
development of the financing structure. 
 
 
Further information is available on the Company's website www.portland-gas.com. 
 
This information is provided by RNS 
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange 
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