Culture

UK Freezing and Running Out of Gas Amid 'Beast From the East'

March 02, 2018 08:23·
PA WEATHER Snow and freezing temperatures has led to chaos in Britain

PA WEATHER Snow and freezing temperatures has led to chaos in Britain

British factories are preparing to shutter some of their operations to help National Grid avert a national gas supply crisis, as freezing temperatures sweep the country.

It is thought unlikely that the situation will affect supply to households, but if enough extra gas supplies by pipeline or ship are not forthcoming, it could affect industrial users. National Grid data showed that demand on Wednesday was nearly a third higher than seasonal norms, as households cranked up their heating.

Energy analyst David Hunter of Schneider Electric said the industry no longer has access to the Rough gas storage facility in the North Sea that was closed by Centrica previous year due to safety issues.

Heavy snowfall and unprecedented cold temperatures following the arrival of the "Beast from the East" polar whirlwind and the storm Emma have forced people across the United Kingdom to fire up their heating.

National Grid issued a rare gas deficit warning for Thursday and called on industrial users to volunteer to turn down consumption as it looked to balance the system.

According to commentators, big energy users such as vehicle manufacturers have supply contracts which can be interrupted in return for lower prices.

Meanwhile, problems with supply from the Netherlands and Norway, as well as issues at facilities in the United Kingdom, have led to the shortfall. Earlier on Thursday, an outage at the South Hook liquefied natural gas terminal also reduced flows to the grid. The Rough site in the North Sea had accounted for 70% of the UK's gas storage.

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Gas storage is now at the lowest level since records began in 2006, primarily because of the closure of Rough.

The impact on energy suppliers could be more severe, however.

Yes. As energy analyst Peter Atherton says: "The last to get cut off is the domestic consumer".

The government is due to hold a workshop in a fortnight with an alliance of energy intensive industry groups and trade unions after they wrote to business secretary Greg Clark last November demanding an inquiry on gas storage and supply.

The guidance was issued by the operator of the UK's power network at 5am today as supply fell short by 48 million cubic metres of demand. Power prices have surged and prompt Dutch gas prices surged to more than four times the level on the same day a year ago, according to data from the Pegas exchange.

"As part of our ongoing dialogue with the industry, representatives from across the storage industry will meet at the Department later this month to discuss the market's investment in gas storage", she said via email.

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