Britain risks fuel shortages this winter because of historically low gas storage levels and its reliance on imports, the boss of British Gas owner Centrica has warned.
Chris O’Shea said the UK had “almost no gas in storage in the UK for the coming winter”, with facilities around 30% full this week, compared with 46% at the same point last year and more than 90% in the previous two years.
Gas storage levels are reportedly at their lowest for August since records began, following disruption to tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and a sharp rise in European gas prices.
Mr O’Shea told The Telegraph: “We have almost no gas in storage in the UK for the coming winter, and this is a huge concern as energy security is national security.”
He called on the UK Government to support a £2billion redevelopment of Centrica’s Rough offshore gas storage facility, which accounts for around half of Britain’s storage capacity.
“For too long we in the UK have relied on other countries to provide our energy security, underinvesting in gas-fired power generation and gas storage.
“The time is now upon us where we need to fix this. We stand ready to invest £2bn of our shareholders’ money to redevelop the Rough gas storage facility with the right regulatory support framework, but time is rapidly running out.”
A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesman said: “We have a diverse energy mix and are confident in our security of supply.
“This includes gas from our own North Sea production, pipelines with Norway, interconnectors with Europe and three LNG terminals.”
FSTE100
The UK's flagship share index, the FTSE 100, was up 29-points at 10,822 shortly after opening this morning.
Brent crude oil futures were down 0.49%, sitting at $88.10 a barrel this morning.
Companies reporting
There are no FTSE 350 companies reporting today.