A gas emergency plan has also been drawn up in Great Britain. Accordingly, the country could stop its gas supplies to mainland Europe if it were to be hit by extreme shortages in the coming months. That would harm the EU, but also Britain.
Britain could halt gas supplies to the EU as part of an emergency plan. Shutting down the pipelines to the Netherlands and Belgium, the so-called interconnectors, would be one of the first actions under the four-stage gas contingency plan, reports the Financial Times (FT).
The two subsea pipelines linking the UK with Belgium and the Netherlands have both reached their maximum capacity since March. They export 75 million cubic meters of gas to mainland Europe every day, reports Reuters news agency, citing National Grid, the operator of the country’s electricity and gas grids.
The reason for the gas exports: While the UK has plenty of gas, including imported shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG), it has minimal domestic storage capacity. In the summer, excess deliveries are therefore routed to Europe. In very cold winter periods, the island then gets gas from the continent. In 2018, according to “FT”, 20 to 25 percent of the total demand was covered via the pipelines from the EU countries.
European gas companies are warning that the UK shutdown could backfire. Bart Jan Hoevers, President of the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas, told the FT: “I would definitely recommend them [the UK] to reconsider the disconnection. Because while it’s beneficial for the continent in the summer, it’s also beneficial for the UK in the winter.”
The British government appeased. A gas supply emergency is an “extremely unlikely” scenario. “Our priority is to continue working with our EU partners and allies to end dependence on Russian oil and gas,” a government spokeswoman told FT. And further: “All countries have such [emergency] plans in place, and there is nothing to indicate that these emergency procedures are now required.” As a reminder: Escalation level 2 of the gas emergency plan was recently proclaimed in Germany.
Unlike Germany and other European countries, Great Britain is only indirectly dependent on Russian gas supplies. Imports from Russia accounted for less than 4 percent of gas supply in 2021. The country can cover around half of its needs from its own sources. The British get another third from Norway. The remaining demand is covered by liquid gas from Qatar and the USA. The problem of storage remains.
In addition to the emergency plan, other measures are therefore being initiated. For example, the Rough storage facility off the Yorkshire coast, which was shut down in 2017, is to be put back into operation. New nuclear power plants and wind farms are also to be built.
The gas emergency plan is to be subjected to a stress test in September. National Grid said the plan will be tested annually. This year also taking into account Russia’s restricted gas imports to Europe.
