National Gas has warned ministers that Britain must urgently expand gas storage capacity and keep North Sea fields operating for as long as possible to reduce the risk of future energy shortages.
In its response to a government consultation on gas security, the system operator said critical infrastructure is under growing commercial pressure, creating “material risks to security of supply”.
The intervention follows earlier warnings from the National Energy System Operator about “an emerging risk to gas supply security”, with concerns the UK could face supply gaps by 2030 under certain scenarios.
Writing in The Times today, National Gas chief executive Jon Butterworth said policymakers must confront “uncomfortable realities”, including that gas demand on the coldest days “will remain broadly the same for many years to come”.
“Too often, today’s energy debate feels disconnected from this reality, framed as a binary choice: wholesale change or no change at all. This is a false choice and it risks clouding our ability to make the right decisions as a country,” he wrote.
National Gas has urged government to “maintain existing storage capacity and introduce or facilitate expansion” to improve resilience against shipping disruption, extreme weather and market volatility. Britain’s largest storage site, Rough, remains at risk of closure.
It also backed floating LNG import terminals and called for action to “optimise remaining UK continental shelf production to keep existing gas fields for their full lifetime” so that “Great Britain makes full use of its existing domestic resources”.
A spokesman for the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero said: “Gas will continue to play a key role in our energy system as we transition to clean, more secure, homegrown energy. We are working with industry to ensure the gas system is fit for the future, including maintaining security of supply in the rarest scenarios.”