The gas industry: survivor and innovator

Abstract

Abstract Sir Denis Rooke, CBE, FRS, FEng. has devoted his working life to the British gas industry. A determined champion and influential spokesman for it, he has also gained a reputation as an expert in gas matters worldwide. He joined the South Eastern Gas Board in 1949 as a Mechanical Engineer and was subsequently seconded to the North Thames Gas Board to work, both in the UK and in the USA, in the field which was to trigger the industry’s subsequent technological revolution, liquefied natural gas. In 1959 he was a member of the technical team on board the Methane Pioneer, which brought the first cargo of liquefied natural gas to Britain. Appointed Development Engineer to the Gas Council in 1%0, he played a seminal role in the transition to an integrated natural gas industry, including the development of a national high-pressure gas grid to exploit the new North Sea resources and the development of the industry’s own exploration and production arm. He became the full time Member for Production and Supply of the Gas Council in 1%6, Deputy Chairman in 1972, and Chairman of what then became the British Gas Corporation in 1976. Holding the Chairmanship until 1989, Sir Denis guided the industry through its successful privatization and became the first Chairman of British Gas pie.