UK came within six days of running out of gas; still faces crunch

The United Kingdom came to within six hours of running out of gas in March this year.

A severe and prolonged winter coupled with a faulty import pipeline led to supplies being rapidly used up at the end of March. And officials warned there could be a similar crisis next winter.

Household fuel bills, already at record levels, are expected to rise further as a result of the shortage.

With continuing cold weather – this spring is expected to be the coldest since 1979 – reserves could be partly empty heading into next winter.

This could force energy companies to buy gas on the open market at a higher cost, which would likely be passed on via household bills. With eight of the UK's coal plants shut down last month to meet European Union norms, the nation will be left relying on wind farms and imported gas for power.

Rob Hastings, director of energy and infrastructure at the Crown Estate, the property portfolio managed by the Queen, said, ''We really only had six hours' worth of gas left in storage as a buffer [at the end of March]. If it had run any lower it would have meant interruptions to supply.''

 The Crown Estate owns the rights to gas storage sites under the seabed.

The revelation of dwindling gas supplies came only days after energy giant SSE, Britain's second biggest power firm, warned that a price hike of £80 was 'highly likely' for its customers because of rising costs.

Leaked documents seen by a section of the UK media, which come from within a government body, assessed the impact of the gas crunch in March.

The document revealed energy firms had to start drawing on emergency gas reserves, which are said to be more volatile than standard gas, after supplies dwindled to almost nothing.

Companies make money by buying gas cheaply in the summer, putting it into gas stores, and selling it in the winter.

But summer prices have been rising, and the difference with winter rates is now so small that it is not economical for investors to build any new gas stores – leaving Britain with a maximum of 20 days of storage.

This compares with more than 100 days in France, 92 days in Germany and 70 days in Italy.

The US protects itself against gas shortages by storing contingencies for up to six months.

It also emerged that the number of ships bringing liquefied natural gas from Qatar – the UK's other main source of gas – has halved in the last 12 months.

These ships, which are the most expensive way to get gas, take more than two weeks to reach Britain.

It was only because one arrived at the end of March that Britain avoided gas shortages, experts believe.