To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what his policy is on ‘ramming the pipes’ as a means of gas storage. (136741)

Linepack—the industry term for increasing the volume of gas stored within a pipeline system by operating at pressures closer to the maximum design operating pressure—is one of the tools used by gas transmission companies for managing short-term variations in the gas supply-demand balance. This is a commercial matter, subject to economic regulation by Ofgem and safety regulation by the Health and Safety Executive.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many applications for gas storage facilities were (a) made and (b) successful in each of the last 15 years. (136742)

One application has been made by a licensed gas transporter seeking a storage authorisation order to store gas underground in natural porous strata under the Gas Act 1965. The application by Caythorpe Gas Storage Ltd for a storage authorisation order for its Caythorpe Gas Field project in the East Riding of Yorkshire is being considered at a public inquiry together with a related compulsory purchase order and related planning appeals.

All other applications for gas storage facilities have been dealt with by local planning authorities in the normal planning regime under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.