Dr Phil Weir Profile picture
Aug 7 14 tweets 10 min read
1) With gas supplies, storage & moves (or lack thereof) to improve both, making the news (still), it may be time for a brief (non-specialist) #thread🧵 on a couple of the #maritime aspects of it, starting with re-posting this little thread from January on where, how & from whom.
2) As mentioned in that thread, Britain already has three of Europe's largest facilities for handling Liquified Natural Gas & in March @Trafigura announced their intention to re-open the fourth at Teesport, though there seems to have been little news since gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-…
3) On the storage front, it is worth bearing in mind that while most people's mental picture of gas storage probably looks like the urban gas holder/gasometer (left), the bulk of Britain's gas storage is, in fact, held underground in a few, depleted gas field reservoirs (right). Gasometer in West Ham, East...Humbly Grove Oilfield and G...Rough field gas storage fac...
4) The locations of these storage fields can be seen on this, useful, 2017 @business graphic. The sharp-eyed will, of course, note one of these fields is in a rather different place to the others - @centricaplc's Rough field, approximately 18 miles off Hull, out in the North Sea. Bloomberg graphic of Britai...Centrica's Rough field gas ...
5) Holding 3.31 billion cubic metres of gas, Rough is by far the largest of these storage fields, holding some 70% of Britain's gas reserves... or rather it was until it was controversially closed in 2017 after 32 years of operation. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
6) Much as with @Trafigura at Teesport, @centricaplc sought & received a licence to re-open Rough field, which could be ready by winter, though due to age, the facility needs investment, & the North Sea Transition Authority wants further approvals on it. reuters.com/business/energ…
7) It seems likely these two projects at Teesport & Rough field are two of the most likely to provide anything resembling timely assistance on the gas supply & storage front in Britain & are (hopefully!) sat at the top of @beisgovuk's @centricaplc's & @Trafigura's priority lists. Teesport floating Liquified...Centrica's Rough field gas ...
8) They are, however, not quite the end of the story - potentially, at least - because back in 2010, preliminary permissions were granted to convert two other, depleted gas reservoirs into offshore storage sites off Norfolk - @centricaplc's 2.3 billion cubic metre Baird field.
9) And @eni's big, 4.6 billion cubic metre Deborah field, both of which were shelved (along with a smaller, @centricaplc project at Caythorpe, Yorkshire) in 2013 after the British Government ruled out subsidies for new storage amid then plentiful supplies. edp24.co.uk/news/business/…
10) Russia, of course, first invaded Ukraine just months later & it appears that @centricaplc & @eni went back to @beisgovuk, citing concerns over security of supply, but unfortunately, it seems, were again turned down (£) thetimes.co.uk/article/gas-st…
11) Whether or not these 2-3 additional facilites are needed is, of course, an open question, & much will depend upon things like the length of disruption to supply versus both the amount of time & available engineering capacity to get them up & running, & any other alternatives. Offshore gas platform at ni...
12) However, having been identified as suitable sites & planned to the point of receiving preliminary permissions, it seems certain that *if* a need for additional natural gas storage is identified, the offshore Baird & Deborah fields would be the candidates to push forward with. Centrica's Rough field gas ...
13) It is worth adding, British activity on gas supplies is not limited to LNG imports & storage - permission has been granted to @Shell to proceed with the new Jackdaw gas field off Aberdeen (subject to legal challenge), but this won't produce before 2025 bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotla…
14) While it should also be remembered that Floating Storage Regasification Units of the type needed to recommence Liquified Natrual Gas imports at Teesport are - inevitably - in considerable demand. This useful #thread🧵 is an excellent primer on them.

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More from @navalhistorian

Aug 4
1) A couple of concerning effects of Europe's reducing river levels on the #UkraineWar, perhaps the most direct of which is the effects of the declining levels of the Danube on Ukraine's ability to use that river to bypass the Russian #blockade of the country's Black Sea ports.
2) See this excellent continuing #thread🧵for details of efforts to expand use of the Danube - amongst other things - to bypass Russia's #blockade, which are necessarily ongoing, despite the agreement to open safe corridors from Ukraine's Black Sea ports.
3) It is worth bearing in mind that Ukraine (quite probably Russia too) is known to have been using rivers & other inland waterways for logistical supply to its forces, which will almost certainly be affected by this, though the degree can only be guessed.
Read 8 tweets
Aug 2
The South China Sea is currently a rather busy patch of ocean, with China's Global Times reporting the PLAN aircraft carriers Liaoning & Shandong have sailed from their respective ports, while the @USNavy's @Gipper_76 & USS America & USS Tripoli are also in the vicinity. #Taiwan Map of the South China Sea ...Chinese aircraft carrier Li...Chinese aircraft carrier Sh...US Navy aircraft carrier US...
Additional notes via @samlagrone of @USNINews: the official @USNavy line is "'normal operations' but one defense official said the assets - already in the neighborhood - were hanging out to see what was gonna happen", while USS America is currently still in port at Sasebo, Japan. US Navy big deck amphibious...
Also worth noting that Chinese forces are reportedly out & about on amphibious exercises too (via @AlexLuck9)
Read 5 tweets
Jul 28
1) A little - slightly belated - #thread🧵on this great catch by @NavyLookout of the British Government's (rather low-key) announcement on 11th July that @RFAArgus "represents the optimum solution to support a forward-deployed Littoral Response Group", & some of its implications.
2) That she was under consideration for the role was announced to @CommonsDefence on 6th July, however, that it is actually to be @RFAArgus is still something of a surprise, given one of the Bay Class has been publicly earmarked for it since March 2021.
3) Nonethless, as surprises go, it is, in many respects, a pleasant & welcome one. Until recently @RFAArgus had been scheduled to decommission without replacement in 2024, depriving the @RoyalNavy of potentially vital capabilities for Littoral Response.
Read 24 tweets
Jul 27
BBC News piece by @Matt_Murphy15 on the work to establish safe passages for convoys of grain ships out of Odesa, Chornomorsk & Pivdennyi, following the Turkey & @UN brokered deal, signed on 23rd July, to relieve at least this part of Russia's #blockade bbc.co.uk/news/world-eur…
Work seemingly progresses apace, with the Russian delegation, under Rear Admiral Eduard Luik, arriving in Istanbul yesterday to join the new, joint grain co-ordination centre, which has apparently already opened.
Whilst Ukrainian authorities have released a NAVTEX with a start date of today, outlining the extent of the safe corridors & that the convoys are to be led from the ports by single, Ukrainian-flagged tugs, to an area of inspection.
Read 17 tweets
Jul 3
1) It looks like the Russians have been trying to finally clear the wreck of their amphibious landing ship Saratov, that was sunk alongside at Berdyansk at the end of March. #UkraineWar
2) It's worth noting the upper deck & superstructure are largely gone. These were still very much in evidence after the fire/explosion caused by the Tochka-U strike, but at least one of the dockside cranes appears to have been reactivated for the purpose of demolishing the wreck.
3) This work suggests that the explosion in the area noted by @CovertShores & others on 28th June was potentially either demolition work, or - far more likely - either an accidental, or controlled explosion of unspent ammunition recovered from the wreck.
Read 5 tweets
Jul 3
Interesting. It does look like the Russians placed at least one, long-range artillery piece on Snake Island - a Tornado-G MLRS with a 90km range, presumably to try counter-battery fire to forestall what actually happened, though one suspects issues of aim without things like the
aerially assisted direction the Ukrainians had from their TB2s, limited ammunition supply, sheer disparity in firepower against that available (& suppliable) ashore were insurmountable. Inability to find cover would almost certainly have been an issue too, though it is worth...
noting that - remarkably - that Tornado-G did seem to manage to survive the Ukrainian onslaught, right up until it was at its most vulnerable - packed up & ready to be evacuated from the pier.
Read 7 tweets

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