Ancala sees Northern North Sea positives

The private equity-backed midstream specialist is bullish about the prospects in its Sage pipeline system catchment area

“People look at Sage and conclude that, because it’s a more northerly system, it is not as ‘exciting’ as the opportunities further south in the Central North Sea. But that is not quite true.” So says Jim Halliday, CEO of Ancala Midstream, independent operator of the UK’s Sage gas pipeline and terminal system. Halliday’s firm is owned by funds managed by specialist infrastructure investment manager Ancala Partners. In March, it struck two deals with Sweden’s Lundin for projects across the UK-Norway median line. It secured a life-of-field contract to transport and process gas from the Solveig field, where first gas is expected in the third quarter of this year and which will be the first of tw