Mayor urges Government to decide the future of Rough gas storage before April 2027 deadline risks closing off a nationally important energy option and a potential £2 billion investment in the Humber.
The Mayor wrote to the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero after visiting the Rough facility off the East Yorkshire coast and meeting the Centrica team responsible for the site.
Centrica has told HEYCA that Rough's current consent expires on 30 April 2027 and that it does not currently intend to seek an extension without enough certainty over the future commercial framework. If operations end and decommissioning follows, the company says the decision could become irreversible before Government has completed its wider work on gas storage. Centrica has also warned publicly that closure by the spring would mean losing hundreds of unionised, well-paid jobs linked to Rough.
That is the point of the Mayor's intervention: not to endorse one company's preferred commercial model, but to make sure Government reaches a decision while the option is still there.
Why Rough matters
Rough is the UK's only large-scale gas storage site. Centrica says its existing 54 billion cubic feet of capacity represents around half of Britain's total gas storage capacity.
Rough has not been refilled this summer and is currently producing a limited amount of native gas rather than operating as a storage site. In capacity terms, Centrica says a fully stocked UK system including Rough would equate to around 12 days of gas demand, compared with around six days without Rough.
The company says a full redevelopment could increase Rough's capacity to around 260 billion cubic feet - around 30 days of gas - while retaining the potential for the reservoir to store hydrogen in future.
Mayor Luke - 'Make the decision while there is still a decision to make'
The Mayor said -
“Rough is bigger than one company or one site. It is part of Britain's energy security and it sits just off our coast.
“I've been offshore, I've seen the scale of it and I've spoken to the people who keep it running. There are skilled jobs here, a Humber supply chain and a company saying it is prepared to put around £2 billion into the future of the site.
“I'm not asking Government to sign off Centrica's preferred model without scrutiny. Value for money and consumer protection matter. I'm asking Government to make the decision while there is still a decision to make.
“Hull and East Yorkshire already helps power the country. If this investment stacks up nationally, I want the jobs, skills and supply-chain benefits that come with it to be felt here too.”
A £2 billion Humber investment proposition
Centrica says that, with the right long-term framework, it is prepared to invest around £2 billion in redeveloping Rough.
The company has shared independent University of Hull analysis which estimates redevelopment could support around 4,800 roles during construction and 640 full-time equivalent jobs over the operating life of the asset, alongside £1.54 billion in gross value added during operations.
Those figures are part of Centrica's case and Government will need to test them alongside value for money, consumer interests and the wider energy market.
For HEYCA, the strategic point is wider. The Local Growth Plan's first Big Play - 'Powering our industrial future' - is about turning Hull and East Yorkshire's nationally important strengths in energy, ports, logistics and manufacturing into more private investment, stronger local supply chains and good jobs. It also makes the case for national energy and infrastructure policy to support higher-value employment, workforce retention and investment in the places that host these assets.
Rough is exactly the kind of national decision the Plan is designed to respond to: a strategic energy asset, a major private investment proposition and a decision with consequences for skilled employment, supply chains and the Humber's long-term industrial position.
What the Mayor has asked Government to do
Mayor Luke has asked the Secretary of State to confirm the timetable for Government's decision on the future commercial framework for gas storage and whether any interim action is available, if needed, to stop Rough being irreversibly lost before that work is complete.
He has also offered to bring Centrica and relevant Humber partners together immediately if further evidence or regional coordination would help.
The Government's interim response to its Gas System in Transition: Security of Supply consultation has already identified infrastructure capacity, resilience and an effective commercial model as priorities. The full policy decision is still to come.
For Rough, the question is whether it arrives before the April 2027 deadline.
Find out more
- Access the Government's Gas System in Transition: Security of Supply consultation
- Access the Hull and East Yorkshire Local Growth Plan and its 'Powering our industrial future' priorities