I put a small amount into STAR because north sea gas is in decline & the Zebrugge to Bacton import pipeline may not be able to cope with peak demand.

So I started looking around for companies in the gas storeage business & I found STAR.

I bought them expecting them to gradually rise but they haven't moved so far.

The Humbly Grove storeage project is on budget and on schedule to start commercial operations in October 2005

The next storeage project is in Lincolnshire.

They are also pumping oil from small UK wells so the current OIL price is great for profits.

I don't buy many AIM shares but this one is an exception.

Star Energy says Humbly Grove gas storage facility to start ops Nov 4
AFX


LONDON (AFX) - UK-based energy company, Star Energy Group PLC said its Humbly Grove gas storage facility is undergoing final system checks and operations are expected to start on Nov 4.

The company also announced the appointment of Roger Pearson as operations director.

newsdesk@afxnews.com

cheers GF.

This has appeared on Bloomberg today - adds some flesh to the bones......

Star Energy May Expand Its First U.K. Gas-Storage Facility

By Renee Lawrence
Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Star Energy Group Plc, a U.K. oil producer and builder of natural-gas storage sites, may expand its first storage facility to take advantage of growing demand for stored gas because of falling production at home.

London-based Star Energy will start offering storage services Nov.4 at the Humbly Grove field in Hampshire, the company said yesterday in a statement. Star may expand the facility, the U.K.'s third-biggest gas-storage unit, because Britain's gas demand is projected to rise in the next 10 years and dependence on imports is forecast to approach 50 percent by 2010.

"There is upside potential," Roland Wessel, Star Energy's chief executive said in a phone interview in London today. "We are bullish about gas storage because of the combination of a lack of storage in the U.K. and decline in North Sea gas."

Natural-gas shippers in the U.K., the European Union's largest market for the fuel, are relying more on stored gas as domestic production declines. Humbly accounts for about 8 percent of the U.K.'s gas storage and is key to Britain's supply-and-demand balance during the winter, when cold weather may drive up prices.

Star is planning to open two more storage units in the U.K.
Vitol Group, the world's biggest closely held oil-trading company, will supply gas into Humbly, the chief executive said. Star said it will take 45 days to fill the storage facility.

Gazprom

Gazexport, the export arm of the world's largest gas company Gazprom, announced in July it has signed a deal with Vitol for 143 million cubic metres of capacity at Humbly Grove, the Russian company said on its Web site.

The five-year deal gives Gazprom access to approximately half of the facility's total storage capacity. The capacity will be managed by Gazprom Marketing & Trading, the U.K. gas and power network manager.

Star Energy expects Humbly to generate revenue of 12 million pounds ($21 million) in its first year of operations. Star Energy invested 65 million pounds in building the facility, the company said in its annual report

Shares of Star Energy were unchanged at 241.5 pence as of 10 a.m. in London. The stock has risen 29 percent this year, according to Bloomberg Data.

--Editor: King

The amount of buying over the past week and especially this morning must be leaving the MMs a bit short by now ......... SP must be due an upward revision from its current 262.5p level