Britain’s gas storage levels are “concerningly low” with less than a week of demand in store, the operator of the country’s largest gas storage site said on Friday.
Plunging temperatures and high demand for gas-fired power stations are the main factors behind the low levels, Centrica said.
The UK is heavily reliant on gas for its home heating and also uses a significant amount for electricity generation.
As of the 9th of January 2025, UK storage sites are 26% lower than last year’s inventory at the same time, leaving them around half full,” Centrica said.
“This means the UK has less than a week of gas demand in store.”
The firm’s Rough gas storage site, a depleted field off England’s east coast, makes up around half of the country’s gas storage capacity.
Gas storage was already lower than usual heading into December as a result of the early onset of winter.
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Combined with stubbornly high gas prices, this has meant it has been more difficult to top up storage over Christmas.
Centrica said the situation is echoed across Europe – where gas storage was at 69% at the start of this week, down from 84% during the same period the previous year.
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