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Wednesday, March 06, 2013

2 Weeks Till The Lights Go Out?

U.K. stores of natural gas, pushed to record lows by a dearth of tanker imports, will be exhausted in about two weeks unless temperatures rise, reducing demand for the heating fuel.

The CHART OF THE DAY shows inventories at Rough, the U.K.’s largest gas-storage facility, are at the lowest level on record for the time of year. There were 6,490 gigawatt-hours of gas in storage yesterday, which will be depleted in 15 days if the average rate of withdrawal over the past two weeks continues, according to National Grid Plc (NG/) data.

U.K. gas prices, a benchmark for Europe’s 800 billion-euro ($1 trillion) market, are susceptible to sudden moves after imports of liquefied natural gas slumped by 53 percent in the five months through February from a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Gas for same-day delivery jumped 64 percent to a seven-year high of 115 pence a therm yesterday as unplanned maintenance cut supplies from Norway.

“We’ll probably run out of storage in just over two weeks if stocks continue to be drawn down at this rate,” Craig Lowrey, a consultant at The Utilities Exchange Ltd., said yesterday by telephone from Ipswich, England. “With very little LNG coming to the U.K. there are fewer alternative sources of gas and that increases the risks if we do get to that point.”

   They are probably slightly overstating since the low point in gas reserves is always about early March so we should get past this dip and into summer unles the weather is particularly bad. On the other hand we have had a year by year decline in reserves so even if we get through the next few weeks running out several weeks earlier (ie last week) next winter becomes a probability.

   This does not appear to be "newsworthy" according to our state controlled media. Though the BBC is busy supportively reporting that Parliament is discussing increasing bills by upping the bio-fuels subsidy.

   Britain has better shale gas resources per square mile than anywhere else in the world The only thing stopping us having had use of it for several years is doing so being banned by our political class.

    Meanwhile windmills are providing only 0.1% of our power this week, gas powered "back-up" generators keeping the lights on.

   People are dying from the cold. Far more will if/when the lights go out.Say what you will about Pol Pot, but say it about Cameron, Miliband and Clegg too. 

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