Assessment of gas shipping options for new entrant suppliers

The Cornwall Insight team was engaged to undertake a review of the different options open to gas suppliers entering into the GB market to fulfil their gas shipping requirements.

As part of the project Cornwall Insight identified the routes open for gas shipping, including outsourcing to specialist providers, taking the activities in-house, and specialist IT solutions. For each of these, qualitative and quantitative analysis was conducted, including on the regulatory obligations, internal resource requirements, and external costs. These were used to undertake an assessment of the costs of the different options, including at set-up and on an ongoing basis, in order to provide analysis of which option was more suitable at market entry and at what point economies of scale supported a move to in-house delivery.

This project was delivered using Cornwall Insight’s understanding of the regulatory and operational requirements of gas shipping, the level of gas network charges, market-entry costs, and gas operational processes. Additionally, Cornwall Insight used its extensive stakeholder relationships to validate assumptions with relevant industry parties. Finally, a knowledge transfer workshop was used to ensure understanding and delivery of insight.