North Sea operator Kistos (LON:KIST) has increased the working gas capacity at its newly acquired Hill Top Farm site by 24% following a trial.
Earlier this year, Kistos acquired two onshore gas storage facilities, including the Hill Top Farm and Hole House sites, from EDF Energy for £25 million.
Kistos said it can potentially repurpose the two sites for future energy storage uses, including hydrogen.
At its current capacity, Kistos said Hill Top accounts for 3.1% of the UK’s total available onshore storage capacity and up to 11% of the UK’s flexible daily capacity if called upon.
However, following positive results from a soft cycling relaxation trial, Kistos said it had confirmed the ability to increase working gas capacity at Hill Top by 24%, from 17.8 million to 22 million therms.
Kistos said it expects the expansion to “significantly increase the revenue from both intrinsic seasonal trades and extrinsic trading”.
The conversion of 4.2 million therms from cushion gas to working gas brings the Hill Top facility in line with its original design parameters, Kistos said.
The trial marks the completion of a project initiated by previous owner EDF, and Kistos is now evaluating the potential to recommission the Hole House facility.
The site was operational from 2001 to 2018, and Kistos said a study on reopening the facility will be completed in the second half of this year.
Kistos executive chairman Andrew Austin said: “Our entry into the gas storage market is providing immediate returns and what we believe to be significant near-term upside for the Group.
“This study has quickly demonstrated the ability to increase capacity and revenue from Hill Top and further increases its importance as one of the most flexible “batteries” in the UK.”
