Got gas?

[AdamW]

I know some of you work in the fossil fuels industries, so perhaps you can answer this one.

I have noticed that one of those big gasometers has recently come into use near work. Came in one Monday 4 or 5 weeks back and thought "something's changed", realised a 100ft tall gas canister had appeared from nowhere, down the street.

I was thinking "Perhaps that is because people start to use a lot more gas this time of year and they need to put a buffer in the system", but a friend of mine assures me it wasn't used last winter. She has been told that the North Sea gas supply is at this moment dwindling hence the need to stockpile and import.

Now back in September I briefly looked into it and the best information I could find suggested another 5 years or so of proven reserves.

So what gives? Is this just some harmless gas stockpiling to reduce the load on the national pipelines, or is there really a lack of gas coming?

 

[david and julie]

I wouldn't think this is indication of a gas shortage in the offing. I once worked at the gas and often on the gas holders, they only really hold enough for peak periods. This is why they go up or down according to the time of day. They are probably full, ready for the cold weather and increased demand.

Certain repair work also needs the holder to be up in a given position and they may be doing this. They may also be working on one, which they would normally use, in another part of town.

I don't know the figures but since natural/north sea gas and more so privatisation, there aren't that many gasometers left. Like most things the land was sold for development.

Most gas now is stored under pressure in the pipelines and then dropped at governor stations down to the pressure in your house. You will see these installations dotted about on the outskirts of town.

 

[pipme]

By the looks of my hob, today, UK have possibly, about 9 yrs gas supplies, then will be prey to another generation of terrorists ..

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=129

Just about right for me to depart to Oz .. Where Indonesia has umpteen years supply and about as much idea of making use of it as flying to the moon !! Just right for harvesting !!
http://www.britain-in-indonesia.or.id/commer8.htm
http://www.china.org.cn/english/2004/Nov/113553.htm
P

 

[ZenStalinist]

Or how about E$$o's Nigerian operations, where they are just interested in oil, and burn all the natural gas that comes out with it. (and these people are surprised they're the subject of one of the biggest boycotts...)

What is coalite methane by the way? I was looking at some ofgem statistics on power generation, and under gas it has a note saying 'Including coalite methane'. I assume it's gas made from coal. In fact, around here there used to be somewhere they made gas. What did we use before natural gas? I think here we changed about 20 years ago to natural gas from whatever we had before.

 

[david and julie]

Before natural gas it was called town gas and made out of coal.

Don't know about coalite methane.

If I remember rightly coalite were from Derby, I seem to recall that they owned most of the property in the Falklands. The name often cropped up during the conflict.