Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Natural gas flows into the U.K.'s Teesside terminal from ConocoPhillips's J-Block fields in the North Sea are being constrained by difficulties processing gas.

``Flows from J-Block were slightly restricted this morning,'' ConocoPhillips spokeswoman Kathleen Denholm said in a telephone interview from Aberdeen, Scotland. ``We expect to be exporting normally in the next couple of hours.''

Deliveries of gas into the Teesside PX sub-terminal were zero at 9:40 a.m., according to National Grid data on Bloomberg.

A processing ``train'' at the plant was closed around 7:45 a.m., Paul Dobbie, a spokesman for PX Group, the plant's operator, said by phone today. The outage is temporary, and the unit is expected to return to service ``within a few hours,'' he said.

About half the gas that arrives at Teesside is delivered to a power station nearby, with the other half sent into the national pipeline network, Dobbie said.

J-Block produced an average 16 million cubic meters of gas a day last year, according to BG Group, which holds a 30.5 percent interest in the fields.

ConocoPhillips operates the block, with a 36.5 percent interest in the Judy/Joanne fields and a 32.5 percent interest in Jade.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Farey in London bfarey@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 23, 2007 05:49 EDT