UK regulator to finish review of Rough gas storage closure before year's end

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said on Tuesday it expects to complete a review before the end of the year of Centrica's decision to close its Rough gas storage site.

In June, Centrica (CNA.L) said it wanted to close the site because of the deterioration of the facility, which has come to the end of its design life.

Rough is Britain's biggest gas storage site. Last month, Centrica was granted permission by the Oil and Gas Authority to convert some so-called cushion gas into working gas from the facility, to reduce pressure in the reservoir .

Rough can be closed only if certain requirements put in place in 2003 are removed, the CMA said in a statement.

"The CMA anticipates that the review will be completed before the end of 2017," it said.

(Reporting by Nina Chestney, editing by Larry King)