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https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-gas-exclusive-idUKKBN1GV187
No hindsight here when they were warned.
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain has rebuffed calls from the gas industry for an urgent review of the country’s gas storage capacity after a cold snap this month triggered warnings of supply shortages and gas prices spiked to their highest in at least a decade.
Operators of gas storage sites, industries reliant on gas and developers of new storage projects have been asking for an inquiry since November, following the closure of the Rough site that provided 70 percent of Britain’s gas storage capacity.
They met officials from the department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) on Friday but the government declined to open an inquiry, saying market forces would ensure there was enough gas, according to two people who attended the meeting and a third who was briefed on the outcome.
The government says it is up to the market to determine whether it makes sense to invest in new gas storage and if there are any supply shortages, prices will rise sufficiently to attract more gas from elsewhere.
“There is still a level of complacency in the government that despite recent events the best course of action is to just accept these price shocks,” said Clive Moffatt of consultancy Moffatt Associates, who attended the meeting and represents several storage developers and industry associations.
The current Government is responsible for our inability to deal with spikes in Gas prices as we have such little buffer - in fact they actively encouraged this behaviour.
No hindsight here when they were warned.
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain has rebuffed calls from the gas industry for an urgent review of the country’s gas storage capacity after a cold snap this month triggered warnings of supply shortages and gas prices spiked to their highest in at least a decade.
Operators of gas storage sites, industries reliant on gas and developers of new storage projects have been asking for an inquiry since November, following the closure of the Rough site that provided 70 percent of Britain’s gas storage capacity.
They met officials from the department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) on Friday but the government declined to open an inquiry, saying market forces would ensure there was enough gas, according to two people who attended the meeting and a third who was briefed on the outcome.
The government says it is up to the market to determine whether it makes sense to invest in new gas storage and if there are any supply shortages, prices will rise sufficiently to attract more gas from elsewhere.
“There is still a level of complacency in the government that despite recent events the best course of action is to just accept these price shocks,” said Clive Moffatt of consultancy Moffatt Associates, who attended the meeting and represents several storage developers and industry associations.
The current Government is responsible for our inability to deal with spikes in Gas prices as we have such little buffer - in fact they actively encouraged this behaviour.
