NORTH-EAST engineering experts will play an integral part in a huge offshore gas storage facility to be built in salt caverns deep beneath the seabed.

Designers and engineers at energy firm Amec’s industrial headquarters, in Darlington, will work on designing the £600m Gateway offshore underground gas storage scheme.

The Gateway Storage Company, which is behind the scheme, has appointed Amec, alongside Parsons Brinckerhoff and Senergy, to undertake the front-end engineering design (Feed) for both the offshore and onshore elements of the project.

A team of 30 Amec designers and engineers are expected to spend a year working on the project, including ten in Darlington.

The facility will increase Britain’s gas storage capabilities by almost a third and should come into operation in 2014.

The Irish Sea facility will be located 750m beneath the seabed, approximately 15 miles offshore from Barrow-in-Furness.

The current phase of the project will provide 1.5 billion cubic metres of storage, equal to approximately 30 per cent of current UK storage capacity, with the possibility of expansion in the future.

Neil Bruce, executive director of Amec, said: “I am delighted that the award of this contract demonstrates all of our energy capabilities.

“This challenging and groundbreaking project couples our considerable Feed expertise on traditional offshore projects with our leading process capability.”

Andrew Stacey, director of Gateway Storage said: “The detailed engineering design work, and the tender process for the main construction contracts that will follow later this year, will support a commitment to construction at the end of this year and the first storage services to start during 2014.

“We are delighted to have the depth of experience that Amec, Parsons Brinckerhoff and Senergy offer us and look forward to working with them in order to deliver the much-needed Gateway facility.”

Amec, which employs about 1,000 people in Darlington, has switched its focus over recent years to the oil, gas and power markets.

The Gateway facility, with sufficient storage to meet five days of Britain’s average gas demand, will be connected to the National Gas Transmission Scheme via a new pipeline to a gas compression station adjacent to the existing Morecambe gas terminals, at Barrow.

Gateway Storage was formed to develop the gas storage project and it is managed by Stag Energy, an independent company, with its headquarteres in Edinburgh.