Britain’s largest gas supplier said on Friday that storage levels in the United Kingdom were “worryingly low” due to high demand caused by freezing weather and after Ukraine stopped transporting Russian gas to Europe.
British Gas owner Centrica said in a statement: “Continuing colder than normal conditions in the UK coupled with the end of supplies from the Russian gas pipeline through Ukraine… means lower gas stock levels across the UK.”
She added that such a “perfect storm” had reduced “the UK’s winter gas reserves to worryingly low levels”.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the government was “confident” that the country “will have sufficient gas supply and electricity capacity to meet demand this winter, due to our diverse and resilient energy system”.
As of Thursday, UK gas stocks were down 26 percent compared to the previous year, leaving storage sites about half full, Centrica said.
“This means that the United Kingdom has less than a week of demand for gas,” the company noted.
Centrica noted that gas storage was already below normal heading into December.
“Combined with the continued rise in gas prices, this means it will be difficult to build up inventory over Christmas.”
– “At the European level” –
Centrica said the rest of Europe faces a similar situation.
“Although many countries are imposing minimum storage levels ahead of winter, European storage capacity stood at 69 percent (on Tuesday), down from 84 percent at the same time” in 2024.
Meanwhile, Centrica noted that the UK’s gas storage capacity is about 10 percent or less of France, Germany or the Netherlands.
“We are falling behind the rest of Europe when it comes to the role of storage in our energy system and we are now seeing the effects of that,” Centrica CEO Chris O’Shea said.
Russian gas shipments to Europe via Ukrainian pipelines stopped on January 1, after Kiev refused to renew a decades-old agreement that generated billions of dollars for both countries.
Although Russian gas accounted for less than 10 percent of EU gas imports in 2023 – down from more than 40 percent before Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in 2022 – some Eastern Bloc members still depend on Largely on Russian imports.
Britain, which is no longer a member of the European Union after leaving the European Union, is seeking to enhance energy security by investing heavily in renewable energy sources – also in an attempt to reduce carbon emissions.
“Energy storage is what keeps the lights on and the homes warm when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow,” O’Shea said.
“We need to think of storage as an extremely valuable insurance policy,” he added in a statement on Friday.
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