At the Eastern Economic Forum in September, Gazprom, the world’s largest extractor of natural gas, signed three major deals with some of the EU’s biggest energy companies.

An innovative project, The ‘SeaGas’ scheme, is underway in the north east of England aimed at creating biomethane from seaweed. The conversion of seaweed to biogas via anaerobic digestion could enable the UK’s seabed to become a long-term source of environmentally friendly fuel. The ‘SeaGas’ scheme is being supported to the tune of nearly £3 million by the Industrial Biotechnology Catalyst, which helps UK companies to bring their biotechnology innovations to market.

Last month, the European Union agreed a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by the use of farmland for biofuel crops.

A branch of Sainsbury’s in the London suburb of Hendon claimed a UK first last month – a supermarket-based filling station for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.  This is one of a number being installed across the capital in a project initiated by the London Hydrogen Network and comes five months after the Government’s announcement of £2 million funding for public sector hydrogen vehicles.