Centrica warns UK natural gas stocks are worryingly low

Natural gas stocks in British storage facilities are worryingly low, with less than a week’s worth of gas in storage after a cold spell. Energy company Centrica said today. Gas stocks in the United Kingdom are 26 percent lower than at the same time last year. Centrica operates the country’s largest natural gas storage facility at Rough, where stocks are 20 percent lower than a year ago.

Cold weather and snow affected much of Britain this week, driving up demand for gas, which is used to heat around 75 percent of homes in the country, Centrica said. The cold weather has also been accompanied by low wind speeds, reducing the output of wind farms, the company’s chief executive Chris O’Shea noted.

The UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) told Reuters it was not concerned about the country’s energy supplies. O’Shea, however, argued that higher energy stocks are „valuable insurance“. „Like any insurance, it may not always be needed, but greater capacity helps protect against the worst-case scenarios,“ he added.

Unlike the European Union, Britain has no mandatory target for gas storage levels. The EU set one after sharp price increases and concerns about supplies during the energy crisis.

Britain obtains most of its gas through pipelines from Norway and the UK continental shelf, including the North Sea, as well as supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Pipeline supplies are stable, while eight LNG tankers are expected to arrive by the end of the month, Reuters reported, citing data from LSEG.

Gas in storage is used to bolster supply when demand is high and helps smooth price fluctuations. The Rough gas storage facility accounts for about half of the country’s gas storage capacity. The facility stopped storing gas in 2017, but reopened in 2022 with reduced capacity amid the global energy crisis that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.