LONDON: Britain’s net gas imports rose to the highest ever level in the first quarter, government data showed, underscoring the country’s growing dependence on non-domestic gas supply.
Net imports climbed to 14.7bn cubic metres (bcm) between January and March, up 21 percent from the same time last year, as an unseasonably cold start to the year boosted the need for gas in heating systems.
“This year’s cold winter meant that gas demand was higher than in recent years and with domestic gas production declining the UK needed to import more gas,” a spokesman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change said.
Britain’s local gas output has been falling steadily since the mid-2000s as fields run out of reserves, forcing the market to step up imports from neighbouring countries like Norway and from LNG producers like Qatar.
Outright gas imports rose to 16.7 bcm in the first quarter, while export levels fell to the lowest since the first quarter of 2008 to 2 bcm, the government data showed. Unusually cold weather in March and April meant Britain’s gas storage facilities were close to running out of stock, leaving Britain more dependent than ever on imports Reuters
