The Scotland-Northern Ireland Pipeline (SNIP) is a 24-inch, 135 km long natural gas pipeline which runs from Twynholm, Scotland to Islandmagee in Northern Ireland. In March 1992 Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Brooke announced the first stage of the privatisation of Northern Ireland Electricity, the province's nationalised utility company; A major part of this was the sale of Ballylumford power station in Northern Ireland to British Gas for £132 million. This oil-fired power plant provided more than half of the power needs of the 600,000 customers in Northern Ireland. British Gas simultaneously announced its plans to set up Premier Transco to build and operate a natural gas pipeline between Scotland and Northern Ireland, to convert Ballylumford to natural gas, and to set up a commercial s