A new gas terminal which aims to supply 20 per cent of Britain's needs is fighting to beat the challenge of the 2012 Olympics to grab skilled building workers for its own expansion.
LONDON: A new gas terminal which aims to supply 20 per cent of Britain's needs is fighting to beat the challenge of the 2012 Olympics to grab skilled building workers for its own expansion, managers say.
Britain's National Grid has raced ahead with enlarging its Isle of Grain liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Kent because of rising construction costs and concerns the east London Olympic building binge could gobble much of the workforce it needs.
The grid's dash to beat the games and other LNG project developers to a limited pool of workers reflects wider and growing concern over a lack of engineers for energy infrastructure projects.
"We felt that there was a window of opportunity in terms of construction because of the high demand for LNG construction activity, high demand for the materials used in the LNG industry and building generally," Phil Carter, who heads the third phase expansion project at Grain, told reporters.
"So the prices from the construction companies was gradually increasing over time. There was also the risk that if we delay for a significant period of time that the Olympics of 2012 on the east side of London might have an impact on the labour force."
Fierce competition from other terminal developers for labour also prompted National Grid to move ahead swiftly with a third expansion which will mean Grain will be able to supply 20 per cent of Britain's gas by winter 2010/11.
Grain, which lies between the Medway and Thames estauaries in southeastern England, became Britain's first LNG import terminal when it opened in July 2005, capable of supplying 4 per cent of the country's daily winter gas.
Grain's second stage of development, including three storage tanks each larger than London's Albert Hall, is expected to be ready by October 1, 2008, Isle of Grain commercial manager Paul Sullivan said.
"They are the largest above ground tanks in the world," he said. "We should start commissioning during summer of 2008."
LNG is gas cooled down into liquid so that it can be carried around the world in tankers, making it much more flexible than pipeline gas.
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