Ministers on spot over why they let vast gas storage facility shut

Ministers on the spot over why they let Britain effectively shut down the gas storage needed to cope with an energy crisis

• UK has minuscule levels of storage compared with other nations in Europe 
• This means families and businesses are more reliant than ever on imports
• Reports suggest the UK has just seven days’ worth of gas storage

Business leaders and MPs have slammed the Government for allowing Britain to effectively shut down the gas storage needed to cope with an energy crisis.

The UK has minuscule levels of storage compared with other nations in Europe, which means families and businesses are more reliant than ever on imports.

Reports suggest the UK has just seven days’ worth of gas storage compared with the 90 days of supply held by France and Germany.

Storage is equivalent to just 2 per cent of annual demand here versus an average of 25 per cent in Europe. 

Yesterday Labour MP Stephanie Peacock challenged Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng to admit allowing the closure of storage facility Rough was a mistake

The lack of storage is largely because ministers allowed the owner of British Gas, Centrica, to shut down a huge facility in the North Sea responsible for 70 per cent of UK gas storage in 2017.

Yesterday Labour MP Stephanie Peacock challenged Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng to admit allowing the closure of storage facility Rough was a mistake.

Mr Kwarteng rejected this saying: ‘I don’t think it is relevant because no amount of gas storage is going to mitigate the quadrupling of the gas price in four months.’

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