Gas Markets
Last week I spoke about how to manage the transition to a low carbon gas network at the Westminster Energy, Environment & Transport Forum. Much of the conference covered the different available approaches to de-carbonising the gas network, in particular conversion to hydrogen and [...]
In the last few weeks there have been a number of announcements by the Government and others on the challenging subject of the de-carbonisation of heat. Heating and cooling currently accounts for nearly half of UK energy consumption, and around 50% of UK emissions [...]
After a few quiet years, the gas markets are going through some interesting times. Although the global supply glut continues, with tightening not expected until the 2020s, short-run supply and demand fluctuations are causing significant gas price spikes. According to Timera Energy, European gas demand [...]
As the UK shivers under attack from the “Beast from the East” – this morning National Grid issued a Gas Deficit Warning, indicating that the gas system was almost 48 million cubic metres (“mcm”) short relative to forecast demand. At 05:00, National Grid was [...]
The past few weeks have seen unseasonably cold weather in the UK - we even had a dusting of snow in London(!) - which has inevitably put pressure on energy supplies, particularly against the backdrop of the Rough closure. Gas demand rose to its [...]
Last week the Competition and Markets Authority ("CMA") announced that it has provisionally accepted an application from Centrica for the company to be released from the historic undertakings relating to the Rough gas storage facility. The application came on the back of Centrica's decision [...]
On Saturday the LNG carrier Maran Gas Mystras docked at National Grid's Isle of Grain facility bringing with it the UK's first cargo of US LNG since a small cargo that arrived at the Canvey Island terminal in 1964. This new shipment, enough to [...]
Last week was a busy week for Centrica. In addition to announcing the closure of its Rough gas storage facility, it also announced the sale of its two remaining CCGTs, confirming its transformation into a services-oriented company and the end of its previous strategy [...]
On Tuesday, Centrica announced the permanent closure of Rough, its large seasonal gas storage facility. This is the UK’s only long-term gas storage asset, with a capacity equivalent to about 10% of winter peak demand and 70% of the country's total gas storage capacity, [...]
The UK gas market is facing unprecedented changes, with a conflation of declining North Sea production, threats to the UK's gas storage capability, and of course, Brexit. Historically, UK gas came almost entirely from domestic production, with a small amount of imports from Norway, however [...]