Big freeze stretches UK gas supplies as more snow forecast

LONDON: The freezing weather entrenched across northern Europe will stretch Britain’s supply of natural gas as fresh snowfall was forecast for much of the country.

National Grid Plc, operator of the Britain’s gas pipeline network, said there could be a gas deficit by the end of yesterday as lower-than-expected supply met with elevated demand caused by the severe weather.

While there’s little prospect of gas running out, the grid offered to pay industrial users to curb consumption and short-term prices jumped as much as 74% to the highest in more than a decade.

A weather system that’s been dubbed Storm Emma is moving northward across Britain bringing forecasts for heavy snowfall through the midlands, northern England and Scotland.

A red weather warning – meaning a potential risk to life – is in place in Scotland.

The average temperature across the UK for the rest of yesterday will be minus 1.5 Celsius, compared with an average 5.9 Celsius at this time of year.

Unplanned outages at two gas facilities in Norway, the UK’s biggest supplier, are curbing imports further to a market already heavily dependent on imports.

Earlier yesterday, an outage at the South Hook liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal also reduced flows to the grid.

Last time an LNG tanker delivered a cargo to Britain was more than a week ago and more supplies are badly needed to keep prices in check.

Commuters in to London faced renewed disruption yesterday as dozen of stations were closed in Kent, southeast of the capital. Europe’s busiest airport, London Heathrow, has so far suffered limited disruption. Early flights yesterday were listed as taking off, according to the website.

One service cancelled was to Glasgow, where the runway is closed amid heavy snowfall.

The city’s airport is expected to stay closed until 3pm London time yesterday, according to a tweet by the airport.

Delays and cancellations were expected at City Airport, a favourite for business travellers, though some early flights had taken off and landed.

The cold weather is forecast to continue into the middle of March as Siberian air flows into Europe, according to meteorologists at Accuweather Inc. — Bloomberg