Centrica sells storage capacity at 14 pct discount to last year

LONDON, April 23 (Reuters) - British utility Centrica (Frankfurt: CENB.F - news) sold year-ahead storage capacity at its huge Rough offshore gas storage site at a price that was 14 percent lower than the previous year, as the gas storage business is continues to decline.

Profits from offering gas storage capacity have dropped across Europe as the difference between buying cheaper summer gas to sell it in winter when prices rise has shrunk.

"The average price paid for 2014/15 storage year SBUs (standard bundled units) is 20.00 p/SBU," Centrica (LSE: CNA.L - news) said in a market message.

This price is 14 percent lower than the level at which capacity was sold in the 2013/14 storage year, which ends on April 30.

Centrica also said it has already sold 66.4 percent of capacity at Rough for the 2015/16 storage year.

Rough is around 10 kilometres long and 3 kilometres wide and can meet up to 10 percent of Britain's peak-day gas demand. (Reporting by Karolin Schaps, editing by Louise Heavens)