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UK gas stores have fallen “concerningly low”, according to the owner of British Gas.
Centrica said the UK “has less than a week of gas demand in store” and that Britain’s storage sites are 26 per cent lower than they were at the same time last year, leaving them around half full.
Chris O’Shea, group chief executive of Centrica, said that levels are “concerningly low”.
He added: “We are an outlier from the rest of Europe when it comes to the role of storage in our energy system and we are now seeing the implications of that.”
But officials have said there is comfortably enough gas to meet demand.
Gas storage was already lower than usual heading into December as a result of the early onset of winter, the firm said. This, combined with “stubbornly high” gas prices, has made it more difficult to increase storage over Christmas.
Are we anywhere near close to running out of gas?
No. Stored gas makes up a relatively small proportion of Britain’s overall supply, compared with imports from countries like Norway, and gas produced in the North Sea.
But even supplies of the gas kept at the UK’s storage sites are well above half full, said National Gas, which runs the system.
“The overall picture across Great Britain’s eight main gas storage sites remains healthy,” a spokesman said.
“Britain obtains its gas from a diverse range of sources beyond that already in storage, meaning we are well placed to respond to demand this winter.”
Britain has been experiencing a cold snap, with more people turning on their gas boilers for longer to heat their homes.
Thursday brought the coldest January night in 15 years, and more freezing temperatures are expected to roll in over the coming days.
Meanwhile, Britain also has lower gas storage capacity than other European countries.
The UK has capacity to hold enough gas for about 12 average days, or enough for 7.5 winter days, when more is used.
By comparison, Germany has enough for 89 days, France has 103 days and the Netherlands 123 days.
These two things have combined to bring gas storage capacity below the same point last year. Centrica described them as “concerningly” low levels.
What would happen if our gas storage facilities were to run dry?
We would not experience shortages from this alone.
The majority of Britain’s gas is either produced in the North Sea, or it is imported from other countries.
A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesman said the Government has “no concerns”.
They added they are “confident we will have a sufficient gas supply and electricity capacity to meet demand this winter, due to our diverse and resilient energy system”.
How does Net Zero fit into this?
The Government is trying to bring in policies which make the UK less reliant on gas, by investing in wind farms and solar plants.
Labour is also trying to help more people install heat pumps, which run on electricity, as an alternative to gas boilers.
Jess Ralston, head of energy at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit thinktank, said the Government should continue focusing on cutting demand for gas amid volatile international prices.
She said: “Unless the UK starts to reduce its demand for gas then we’ll just become more dependent on imports from abroad, with prices set by the international markets.
“When gas prices rise in Europe and across the world, they rise in the UK too; more drilling in the North Sea is a red herring solution.”
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