UK has enough gas, says No.10 after supply warning

The UK has enough gas to meet demand, the government has said after British Gas owner-Centrica warned about “concerningly low” supplies.

Centrica, which owns the country’s largest gas storage facility, said the UK “has less than a week of gas demand in store” due to the colder weather.

The government said it monitors energy levels and says it has “all tools” at its disposal “if needed to secure our supply”.

The UK can buy more supplies from Continental Europe if required.

Centrica said that the amount of gas in UK storage facilties were about half full after the colder-than-usual conditions in the UK.

Gas inventory levels have come under pressure from the cold weather conditions and the end of Russian gas pipeline supplies through Ukraine at the end of last month.

Britain has relatively little capacity to store gas. About half of the capacity it has is at Centrica’s Rough facility off the coast of East Yorkshire. This was closed in 2017, but then reopened in 2022 following the energy crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. There is also liquid natural gas storage at the three terminals, and other smaller facilities across the country.