A £450m project to bring new gas supplies to the UK has moved forward on Teesside.

Teesside Gas and Liquids Processing (TGLP), a subsidiary of Teesside Gas Processing Plant; RWE Dea UK SNS (RWE) and Sterling Resources (UK) will bring gas from the Breagh gas field in the North Sea to Teesside.

And now huge pieces of equipment have arrived in the region as part of the project, with the first gas to be landed through the new infrastructure due in the middle of the year.

Last night four 250 tonne, 110ft long ‘slug catcher’ vessels and a 50 tonne phase separator vessel - all made from four-inch thick steel - travelled on heavy haul vehicles from the Able UK dock to the Teesside Gas Processing Plant.

They were due to be lifted into place by a specially constructed 1,200 tonne crane today.

The Breagh gas field is owned by RWE (70%) and Sterling (30%) and is located in the southern North Sea on the Dogger Shelf around 100km from Teesside.

Operated by RWE, it is one of the North Sea's largest gas discoveries in recent years and the project involves the construction of a new offshore platform and pipeline to bring gas ashore at Coatham Sands, Redcar where it will be piped via a new onshore pipeline to the Teesside Gas Processing Plant, at Seal Sands.

Teesside-based px group, in its role as operator of the Teesside Gas Processing Plant, is providing project management and development services.

Once the gas starts flowing it will run the processing operations, exporting clean gas to either the National Transmission System or local industrial users.

The Korean-made slug catchers remove and store hydrocarbon liquid and monoethylene glycol slugs which the 'wet' gas pipeline, operating at high pressure, will occasionally bring ashore.

TGPP owns the Teesside Gas Processing Plant at Seal Sands which is capable of processing up to 800 million standard cubic feet of gas per day.