Rampside Gas Terminal is a gas terminal situated in

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town and civil parish (as just "Barrow") in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the county of Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borou ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

on the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea is a body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Ch ...

coast. It connects to gas fields in

Morecambe Bay Morecambe Bay is an estuary in north-west England, just to the south of the Lake District National Park. It is the largest expanse of intertidal mudflats and sand in the United Kingdom, covering a total area of . In 1974, the second largest ga ...

. It is situated adjacent to the former Roosecote Power Station.

History

Production started in 1985 with the South Morecambe gas field. The North Morecambe terminal was built in 1992. The Rivers Fields Area was discovered in 1982. The terminal was built on a site used by the former Roosecote

coal-fired power station A coal-fired power station or coal power plant is a thermal power station which burns coal to generate electricity. Worldwide there are about 2,500 coal-fired power stations, on average capable of generating a gigawatt each. They generate ...

Operations

It consists of three gas terminals, situated between Roose to the north and Rampside to the south. The sea around the gas platforms is around 30 metres (93 ft) deep. Centrica's facilities employ about 400 people, with a maximum of 172 people offshore, with around 140 being Centrica personnel. Offshore personnel are transferred via helicopter from Blackpool International Airport and also directly from the terminal itself with flights currently operated by Bond Offshore Helicopters. Gas is transferred to the terminals via 36 inch pipelines. Gas, after processing and compression, is supplied to the

National Transmission System The United Kingdom's National Transmission System (NTS) is the network of gas pipelines that supply gas to about forty power stations and large industrial users from natural gas terminals situated on the coast, and to gas distribution companies ...

. Gas was formerly transferred to the Roosecote Power Station, next-door to the north at Roose, before the gas turbine station was decommissioned in 2014. The topsides for the Morecambe Bay production, accommodation and flare platforms were designed by Matthew Hall EngineeringMatthew Hall Engineering publicity brochure n.d. but c. 1990 which was also responsible for jacket design, construction assistance and installation technical assistance. It was awarded the contract in May 1981. The plant had a processing capacity of 34 million standard cubic metres per day. Electricity generation was powered by four 4 MW Ruston gas turbines. The topsides accommodation was for 176 people.

Rivers Terminal

It is named as it is because its fields are all named after Lancashire rivers. This is operated by Spirit Energy on behalf of Chrysaor (following the acquisition of ConocoPhillips UK assets in 2019). The £60m contract for the construction by Costain Oil and Gas Ltd (now called COGAP) of Manchester from January 2002. The whole £185m project, including the fields, was originally developed by Burlington Resources, who were bought by ConocoPhillips in 2006. The gas coming to the terminal is

sour The gustatory system or sense of taste is the sensory system that is partially responsible for the perception of taste. Taste is the perception stimulated when a substance in the mouth biochemistry, reacts chemically with taste receptor cells l ...

and contains high levels of

nitrogen Nitrogen is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a Nonmetal (chemistry), nonmetal and the lightest member of pnictogen, group 15 of the periodic table, often called the Pnictogen, pnictogens. ...

and

hydrogen sulphide Hydrogen sulfide is a chemical compound with the formula . It is a colorless chalcogen-hydride gas, and is toxic, corrosive, and flammable. Trace amounts in ambient atmosphere have a characteristic foul odor of rotten eggs. Swedish chemist Ca ...

. Gas is transferred from here to the North Morecambe Terminal. Waste hydrogen sulphide is burned to produce

sulphur dioxide Sulfur dioxide (IUPAC-recommended spelling) or sulphur dioxide (traditional Commonwealth English) is the chemical compound with the formula . It is a colorless gas with a pungent smell that is responsible for the odor of burnt matches. It is r ...

and converted to liquid sulphuric acid which has industrial use.

North Morecambe Terminal

Operated by Spirit Energy. Gas arriving here has a higher concentration of carbon dioxide and nitrogen than the South Morecambe plant, and hence has to be treated in different processes, and thus needs a separate plant. There is three phase separation and carbon dioxide is removed via an amine wash. Nitrogen is removed via a cryogenic distillation process

South Morecambe Terminal

Operated by Spirit Energy. It receives gas only from the South Morecambe field. First to begin production in 1985. Gas is compressed via two GE LM2500+ gas turbines and Vectra power turbines that drive gas compressers. South Morecambe Terminal went off line in 2015 / 2016 and was decommissioned in 2016. The terminal will be demolished in late 2017.

Centrica gas fields

Operated by Hydrocarbon Resources Limited (HRL), owned by Centrica. These Centrica fields are some of the largest on the UK Continental Shelf, and produces enough gas to heat 1.5 million UK homes.

North Morecambe

Discovered in March 1976. Production started in October 1994. Both North and South Morecambe fields are about 25 miles west of Blackpool. This field does not have assigned workers and only has one platform.

South Morecambe

Discovered in September 1974. Production started in January 1985. Gas is transferred to the South Morecambe Terminal. The Central Processing Complex (CPC) is powered by four dual-fuel

gas turbine A gas turbine or gas turbine engine is a type of Internal combustion engine#Continuous combustion, continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas gene ...

s, powered by the field's gas or low-sulphur diesel. There are five drilling platforms and the main accommodation platform is in the CPC. 80% of the total gas in the Morecambe Bay area is in this field.

Bains

Gas is transferred via the South Morecambe field.

Chrysaor gas fields

Acquired by Chrysaor from ConocoPhillips in 2019. Formerly operated by HRL on behalf of ConocoPhillips. Also to include the Hodder (named after the River Hodder) and Asland (named after the River Asland) fields.

Millom and Dalton

Part of the Rivers project. Gas goes to the North Morecambe platform, where the fields are situated near to, then the North Morecambe terminal. Named after

Millom Millom is a town and civil parish on the north shore of the estuary of the River Duddon in southernmost Cumberland, Cumbria, England. It is situated just outside the Lake District National Park, about north of Barrow-in-Furness ( by road) and ...

and Dalton-in-Furness in Cumbria. Millom discovered in April 1982 with production starting in August 1999. Dalton discovered in April 1990 with production starting in August 1999.

Calder

Gas goes to the Rivers terminal. Named after the River Calder, Lancashire. Largest of the Rivers fields. Situated just south-west of the South Morecambe field. Discovered in February 1982.

Darwen and Crossens

Not in production. Gas will go to the Rivers terminal. Named after the River Darwen and River Crossens.

References

External links

ConocoPhillips in the East Irish Sea

ConocoPhillips operations in the UK

Centrica operations

Rivers project

North Morecambe terminal being built in 1992

History of the gas fields

Costain construction of the Rivers Terminal (PDF)

News items

Helicopter crash inquest in March 2009

Gas storage plan in October 2007

Irish Sea gas fields in December 2006

Helicopter crash in December 2006

Rivers terminal being built in 2003
{{Natural gas infrastructure of the United Kingdom Natural gas plants Natural gas terminals Natural gas infrastructure in the United Kingdom Buildings and structures in Barrow-in-Furness Energy infrastructure completed in 1985 Irish Sea ConocoPhillips Centrica Morecambe Bay