Govt asleep at wheel as gas reserves fall

OUR North Sea gas reserves are in terminal decline. Production has fallen by two-thirds in the last 20 years. In the early 2000s, the UK was still self-sufficient in gas. Now, just 20 years later, we import half the gas we need.

New reserves being licensed by the Government will only marginally slow the decline in production. The North Sea Transition Authority, responsible for maximising the economic recovery of oil and gas from the North Sea, predicts that gas production will fall by another twothirds within only ten years and the UK will be almost entirely reliant on gas imports.

The sad truth is that to meet our basic energy needs, we are increasingly competing with other European countries to buy gas from Norway, the US and Qatar, exposing us to international gas prices which will stay high and volatile so long as most of Europe, which used to depend on Russian gas, is chasing the same supplies of gas.

Other European countries and even the US are reducing their reliance on gas by investing in renewable energy, improving the energy efficiency of their buildings and supporting households to come off gas and switch to electric heat pumps. They are working to reduce their energy costs and become more economically competitive. We need to keep up or lose out.

Our Government is asleep at the wheel – despite our dwindling supplies, gas still provides more than 84% of our heating needs and around 40% of our electricity generation. The Government’s failure to act means we will continue to import gas at sky-high prices driving inflation and the cost of living crisis, damaging our economy and causing hardship for so many households.

Caroline Snow