British Gas

From Freepedia

British Gas was formerly the name of the United Kingdom's monopoly gas supplier. There is no longer a company called "British Gas", but the phrase is still used as a trading name.

In 1997 the then British Gas plc demerged Centrica plc and renamed itself BG plc (later BG Group plc). Ownership of the name was split; in Britain it is used by Centrica, while in the rest of the world it is used by BG Group.

History

British Gas was privatised in 1986.

In 1992 British Gas purchased Ballylumford power station, one of four in Northern Ireland. A condition of the sale was that the plant must be converted from heavy oil to gas-fired. British Gas formed Premier Transco Ltd. to build a submarine interconnector, the Scotland-Northern Ireland Pipeline (SNIP), a 135km pipe (40.4km under sea) with a diameter of 0.61m. Construction lasted three years (1994-1996) and was completed to time and on budget. Ballylumford converted to natural gas in 1996. To take advantage of this investment a licence was tendered to provide natural gas to Belfast, a tender which British Gas won through its subsidiary Phoenix Natural Gas. British Gas and its successor company gradually reduced its stake in Phoenix.

External links

• britishgas.co.uk - diagram of the demerger with links to demerged company websites