There will be enough natural gas for the UK through the winter season, the country’s National Energy System Operator said in a report ahead of the peak energy demand season. National Gas, the UK’s main supplier of this energy product, also sees no cause for concern for next winter, Reuters reported, citing both organisations.
Domestic natural gas production is declining as energy self-sufficiency falls down the priority list to be replaced by emissions reduction and decarbonizing the economy, but this should not be a problem, NESO and National Gas said. NESO warned that electricity prices this winter would be strongly influenced by developments in the gas market.
“Only a rare combination of events, such as a very cold UK winter coinciding with a major supply disruption, would pose a material risk to our gas or electricity systems,” Glenn Bryn-Jacobsen, director of Energy Systems and Resilience at National Gas, said in the organisation’s new report.
The UK imports natural gas from Norway through pipelines and from other suppliers such as LNG. This winter, National Gas forecasts 6% less domestic gas supplies and 7% more liquefied gas imports, the Financial Times reported. At the same time, National Gas has also forecast lower consumption, down 3%, thanks to higher expected generation from wind and solar energy.
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Gas Nacional warned, however, that this winter there will be some tightness in the national gas market. “Our margins for winter 2025/2026 are tighter than we have seen in the last four years,” the company said in its winter gas outlook, adding that “this is largely due to the continued and well-documented decline in supplies from the UK continental shelf.”
This winter, around 33% of the UK’s gas supply is expected to come from its own North Sea fields, a further 36% from Norway and 24% from global LNG suppliers.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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