Gas storage firm Halite Energy Group collapses into liquidation

Firm was working to build facility in Lancashire but ran out of funds

An energy firm that secured a high-profile legal victory against the UK government has gone into liquidation after exhausting funds needed to construct a major underground gas storage facility in Lancashire.

Halite Energy Group, which devoted more than a decade to developing the infrastructure scheme in Preesall, has appointed turnaround specialist Donald McKinnon from accounting firm Wbg as liquidator. The collapse arrives despite the company’s directors stating in their most recent financial accounts, lodged in January 2025, that the business remained a viable going concern.

The scheme has been at the heart of fierce local and political conflict in Lancashire for over a decade. Halite Energy initially proposed to wash out up to 19 specially constructed underground salt caverns deep beneath the Preesall Saltfield, situated on the eastern side of the Wyre Estuary.

The infrastructure proposal involved transporting gas through pipelines crossing rural Wyre to link directly with the national gas grid near Garstang. The plans met with fierce, protracted opposition from Wyre Council, Lancashire County Council, and the resident-led campaign group Protect Wyre.

Campaigners and local politicians repeatedly highlighted threats to the rural landscape and raised concerns regarding geological safety. When the Department of Energy and Climate Change originally turned down the scheme in 2013 owing to Lancashire’s complex geology, Halite challenged the government in the High Court, reports Lancs Live.

The firm secured a significant legal triumph in 2014 that overturned the government’s rejection, ultimately compelling the approval of a Development Consent Order (DCO) in 2015. Had the scheme come to fruition, the multi-million-pound initiative would have substantially increased the UK’s overall gas storage capability.

Advocates said the newly constructed caverns would have enabled the national network to prevent supply disruptions, reduce volatile price fluctuations, and reliably support intermittent electricity produced by wind turbines.

Wbg liquidator Donald McKinnon said: “Halite Energy Group had the rights to develop a fully permitted gas storage facility in former salt caverns. When developed, the site would account for 25% of the UK’s gas storage capacity.

“However, earlier this year, the company’s agents estimated that the costs to complete the project were in the range of £5.7 – £7m. With insufficient revenue streams to meet these costs and an inability to secure additional funding, the directors made the difficult decision to cease trading and appoint myself as liquidator.”