Statoil and Gazprom have both signed agreements with Centrica to increase the volume of gas they supply to the company under an existing supply agreement.
In 2011, the Statoil signed a 10-year agreement with Centrica for the supply of five billion cubic metres (bcm) per annum to be delivered to the UK from October this year.
The new agreement will increase the volume of gas by a further 2.3bcm per year, taking the total volume to be delivered over the ten-year period to 73bcm.
Ann-Elisabeth Serck-Hanssen, acting senior vice president of marketing and trading in Statoil, said: “We are very happy to have made this agreement with Centrica.
“The agreement confirms Statoil’s position as a reliable and competitive supplier of gas to the UK, which is a very important market to Statoil.”
Currently, Britain needs around 70bcm of natural gas each year to heat homes and businesses and to generate electricity.
While the agreement with Statoil is long-term, Centrica will deliver sufficient gas to meet the needs of nearly six million British homes.
Meanwhile a deal was also signed with Gazprom Marketing & Trading (GM&T) – a UK-based marketing arm of the Russian state-owned company – to increase its supply to 4.16billion cubic metres a year and a total of 29.1bcm over the length of the contract.
The agreement with GM&T comes at a time of tense global relations with Russia, with sanctions imposed on the country by leaders in Europe and the US over the conflict in Ukraine.
Centrica said the deals would help ensure energy supply security.
It said: “The long-term supply agreements with Statoil and GM&T will meet the gas needs of nine million British homes every year and take the total amount that Centrica has committed in securing gas and electricity, through a range of suppliers, to over £50 billion.”
Recommended for you
