UK’s gas tank could run dry

No new storage as facility shuts

BRITAIN has “pitifully” low gas storage to get us through winter, MPs were warned yesterday.

Experts said no largescale storage had been built in the past decade, but a vast facility beneath the North Sea, called Rough, has closed.

With dwindling North Sea gas supplies, the situation has left the UK increasingly reliant on imports.

The strain was exposed in March when the Beast from the East storm saw Britain run short of gas which caused a spike in wholesale prices. The National Grid then issued its first “gas deficit warning” for eight years.

Dr Laura Cohen, chief executive of the British Ceramic Confederation, told MPs: “There is a very high likelihood of further disruption.” Her industry is among the country’s major gas users.

Energy giant Centrica announced last year it was closing Rough due to its “age and condition”. The facility provided 70% of the UK’s gas storage and met 10% of gas needs in peak winter months. Dr Cohen said: “The closure of Rough leaves the UK with one of the lowest levels of storage relative to annual demand, a pitiful 2% compared with an average of 25% across Europe.”

Yesterday, a Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee hearing was told £1billion of investment in Rough could have reduced the average household energy bill by £16 to £20 a year because of the impact on wholesale costs.

It also heard that a 2013 report to government recommended doubling gas storage.

However, Duncan Burt, acting director of operations at National Grid, insisted that thanks to renewable energy and gas imports, the market worked well. “There are a lot of different sources of flexibility,” he said. “We cannot see a need for specific additional storage.”

However, he admitted if demand rises, so might wholesale prices.