Central Area Transmission System

CATS Gas Terminal
Location within County Durham
Alternative names	CATS Terminal
General information
Type	Gas terminal
Location	Seal Sands, Stockton-on-Tees, TS2 1UB
Coordinates	54°36′37″N 1°10′41″W / 54.6103°N 1.17807°W / 54.6103; -1.17807
Elevation	5 metres
Inaugurated	May 1993
Owner	Antin Infrastructure Partners
Technical details
Floor area	70 acres (280,000 m2)

The Central Area Transmission System (also known as CATS) is a natural gas transportation and processing system that transports gas through 404 kilometres of pipeline from the Central North Sea to a reception and processing terminal at Teesside in the North East of England.

The receiving terminal site for the system was built between 1990 and 1993. It was originally run by Amoco. The CATS pipeline was completed in 1993, receiving gas from two of Amoco's fields: Everest and Lomond, now owned by Shell.

Together with the development of the Everest and Lomond fields, the project, which included the construction of an offshore riser, platform and pipeline, was one of the largest construction projects ever undertaken in the UK, second only to the Channel Tunnel at that time.

Due to increased demand within the Central North Sea, the decision was taken to provide a processing service to future users of the CATS pipeline, enabling delivery of their gas into the National Transmission System. This required the construction of a pipeline reception and gas treatment facility, and the CATS gas and liquids processing plant, comprising two processing trains, each with the capacity to handle around 17 million standard cubic metres of gas per day. The first of the new trains went into operation four months ahead of schedule in May 1997, and the second train was commissioned in 1998.

Plans for the site began from the discovery of BP's Lomond field in May 1972. In addition, other fields were discovered in the Central Graben Area of the North Sea.

In July 2007, the CATS pipeline was damaged by the anchor of the vessel 'Young Lady'. The pipeline was shut-in for two months.

The pipeline runs from the CATS riser platform, which is located in Block 22/10a of the Central North Sea, some 230 kilometres (140 mi) east of Aberdeen, to Teesside in England. The pipeline reaches the shore at Coatham Sands near Redcar where it meets a Beach Valve Station. The gas travels under the River Tees in a 5-mile (8.0 km) long pipeline to the gas terminal.

The CATS pipeline was originally conceived to carry natural gas from the Everest and Lomond fields and was built oversized to accommodate future production from fields in the surrounding area. The CATS pipeline now transports gas from over 30 producing fields including J-block, ETAP and Everest. Customers can connect directly to CATS at any one of six connection points along the pipeline (known as 'tees'), at the riser platform, or via one of 11 hubs.