UK has less than a week of gas reserves, says Centrica
By Frank Prenesti
Date: Friday 10 Jan 2025
(Sharecast News) - The UK has less than a week of gas reserves, with storage at "concerningly low levels" amid a cold snap, said British Gas owner Centrica on Friday.
The company said that, as of Thursday, inventories at gas storage sites were down 26% year on year, leaving them around half full.
It added that the colder-than-usual conditions in the UK combined with the end of Russian gas pipeline supplies through Ukraine on December 31, 2024 had hit supplies.
"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 implications of that," said chief executive Chris O'Shea.
Gas storage was already lower than usual heading into December as a result of the early onset of winter. Combined with "stubbornly high" gas prices, this had made it more difficult to top up storage over Christmas, the company added.
Centrica is lobbying the government for financial help to upgrade its Rough gas storage site, which was the largest storage site in Great Britain until its closure in 2017. It was partially reopened in 2022 at the request of the then Conservative government after Russia's invasion of Ukraine triggered an energy crisis and currently has a current maximum capacity of 54 billion cubic feet.
The UK has some of the lowest levels of gas storage in Europe at 12 days average or 7.5 peak winter days, compared to Germany at 89 days, France at 103 days and the Netherlands at 123 days.
Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com
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