Centrica: Britain's gas reserves are "concerningly small"

Centrica, the operator of Britain's largest storage facility, stated on Friday that Britain's gas levels were "concerningly" low, with less than one week's worth of gas left to be consumed following a recent cold snap.

Britain relies heavily on gas to heat its homes and generate electricity.

As of 9th January 2025, UK stockpiles are 26% less than the inventory of last year at the same date, and they're only half full. Centrica stated that the UK had less than one week's worth of gas in stock.

Around half of England's storage capacity is provided by Centrica's depleted Rough gas field, located off the east coast. Rough stopped storing the gas in 2017, but was reopened at a lower capacity in 2022 amid the global energy crises following Russia's invasion in Ukraine.

Centrica has said that it can invest up to 2 billion pounds (2,46 billion dollars) in upgrading the site. However, they are seeking government support through a price ceiling and floor mechanism.

Centrica's Chief Executive Chris O'Shea stated that if Rough had operated at full capacity during the past few years, UK households would have been able to save 100 pounds on their winter gas and electricity bills.

Britain, unlike Europe, does not have an obligatory gas storage target that Europe established following price spikes during the energy crisis and fears about supply.

O'Shea stated that "we are an outlier in Europe when it comes the role of energy storage and we are seeing the consequences of that." ($1 = 0.8135 pounds) (Reporting and editing by Jason Neely, Louise Heavens and Susanna Twidale)

(source: Reuters)