UK has ‘less than a week’ of gas stores, says Centrica

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According to the owner of energy company British Gas, the UK has “less than a week” of gas reserves as temperature-strained supplies plunge.

As of Thursday, inventories at gas storage sites were 26 percent lower than at the same point last year. centered said Friday, leaving them at about half full and at “relatively low” levels.

Britain’s cold snap, during which temperatures plunged to around minus 20C, has increased heating demand from households, many of which rely on gas.

The drop in temperatures comes less than two weeks after the end of Russian gas flows to Europe through Ukraine, which is forecast to last through the weekend.

“There is less than a week’s worth of gas demand in the UK,” Centrica said in a statement on Friday.

“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 impact,” added chief executive Chris O’Shea.

Britain has much less storage capacity than mainland European countries, making it more vulnerable to rising gas demand.

European states are interconnected with a vast network of pipelines, allowing flexible supply between countries.

Around half of Britain’s gas demand is currently met by imports and domestic gas prices have risen by around 20 per cent since the start of winter.

The UK competes with mainland Europe for gas and liquefied natural gas supplies, and its gas prices need to be at a meaningful premium to European prices to encourage traders to ship gas to the UK.

Centrica is lobbying for government support to invest in and upgrade its rough gas storage sites so it can store hydrogen in the long term.

The facility, located off the Yorkshire coast, is the largest in the UK. It closed in 2017 but partially reopened in 2022 at the request of the previous conservative government at the height of the energy crisis caused by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The energy supplier said it was prepared to invest £2 billion to upgrade and redevelop the site, but the government wants to introduce a “cap and floor” system to support its revenues.

O’Shea claimed that if Raf had been “operating at full capacity in recent years, it could have saved UK households £100 each winter on both their gas and their electricity bills”.

Current level of regulator Ofgem Energy price capThat runs until March, meaning a typical household is paying £1,738 a year for gas and electricity, compared to £1,717 at the end of 2024.

Natasha Fielding, head of European gas pricing at pricing agency Argus Media, said the UK could either import more LNG or import pipeline gas from mainland Europe via two major pipelines. But “they all require a further increase in the UK gas price premium to the EU”, he warned.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said it had “no concerns” and was “confident that we will have sufficient gas supply and electricity capacity to meet demand this winter due to our diverse and resilient energy system”.

“We are committed to designing a new business model for hydrogen storage infrastructure. Prospective projects will have an opportunity to apply for support and more information will be provided in due course,” it added.