We may not be running out of gas but we still need a serious strategic gas reserve | Nils Pratley

While the set-up in Great Britain looks secure for now, the Iran war shows why more storage seems essential Alarmed that Great Britain has only enough gas in storage to cover two days of consumption? Actually, Michael Shanks, the energy minister, is right that the bald statistic is not a reason to run for the hills. But he would help his case if he admitted that the long era of running a “just-in-time” approach to gas supplies looks increasingly unworkable. Shanks is obviously correct that Great Britain does not source its supplies from storage. About 75% of our gas comes from the North Sea – from domestic fields and via the 725-mile underwater Langeled pipeline from Norway – and neither source is affected by the war in Iran. As for imported liquefied natural gas (LNG), typically about 18% of supplies today, the market is disrupted now that Qatar, about a fifth of the global market, is not producing. But the rest of the market is still operating, so it’s a question of paying nosebleed rates for shipments, probably from the US, which already dominates our LNG imports. And the final pieces in “the diverse and strong energy mix”, as Shanks described it, are the two-way interconnectors

Mar 9, 2026 → Mar 24, 2026