Centrica buys US Energy Marketing business

Centrica is paying £500million for the US energy marketing branch of oil and energy firm Hess Corporation. It’s the UK firm’s second US buy announced in a month which suggests the parent company of British Gas is keen to take a bigger bite of business across the Atlantic. It claims the purchase will make its […]

Centrica’s £16.4m for pay and bonuses ‘obscene’

The union for energy workers have condemned the payouts to Centrica’s bosses’ and slammed it as “obscene” as five executives got a total of £16.4 million in pay and bonuses last year. The figure is from its Annual Reports and Accounts for 2012, which also showed British Gas made £606 million in profits last year […]

Centrica unveils gas supply deal with US

The owner of British Gas has signed an import deal with a US energy firm for liquefied natural gas (LNG) in a bid to ensure the UK’s energy security. The 20-year agreement includes the purchase of 89 billion cubic feet of annual LNG volumes for export from Cheniere Energy Partners’ Sabine Pass plant in Louisiana. […]

Centrica withdraws from UK’s nuclear plans

Centrica will not be taking part in the construction of new nuclear reactors in the UK as part of the nation’s nuclear new-build programme. The firm, which owns British Gas, made the announcement today and said the reason for its withdrawal is due to increasing costs and construction delays. It had the option of taking […]

Centrica posts huge half year profits

Centrica made £1.45billion in profits for the first half of the year, a 15% rise in profits on the same period last year. That includes a 23% rise in profits at its UK business British Gas. The company’s interim results for the first half of 2012 show energy supply to homes appears to have made […]

Centrica chief defends firm’s renewable efforts

Centrica’s boss was forced to reply to an e-mail from Greenpeace campaigners last night in an attempt to defend his firm’s commitment to renewables. This came after the British Gas parent company’s HQ in Windsor was temporarily blockaded by Greenpeace protestors yesterday morning, who complained about “rip-off” energy bills. The campaigners criticised the Big Six […]

Will Centrica boss do a Hester and waive bonus?

Campaigners are calling for Centrica’s chief executive to give up his bonus after criticising him for lining his “bulging pockets” at the expense of ordinary householders. Greenpeace want Sam Laidlaw to waive his bonus like Stephen Hester, the boss of taxpayer-bailed out bank RBS, who recently gave up one million-pound’s worth of shares under pressure […]

Centrica profits up in ‘tough year’

Centrica made £52 profit from every home it supplies last year. It revealed this today in its annual report, which showed earnings were £1.3 billion. A fifth of Centrica’s profits were made in the domestic sector, while the bulk came from the upstream oil business (42%) which made £1,023 million. Centrica said British Gas’s residential […]

Centrica look to Qatari co-operation

Energy firm Centrica have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Qatar Petroleum International (QPI), which aims to develop new and existing projects in upstream oil and gas including liquefied natural gas, gas storage and combined-cycle gas turbine generation. Sam Laidlaw, chief executive officer of Centrica said: “Centrica is playing a leading role in securing Britain’s […]

Centrica in 10-year gas deal with Statoil worth £13bn

British Gas owners Centrica have penned a ten-year deal with Norwegian oil and gas giants Statoil that will supply 50 billion cubic metres of gas worth £13 billion. Starting in 2015 the imported gas deal will supply around 5% of total UK demand. Sam Laidlaw, CEO of Centrica, said: “Following the signing of this 10 […]