Dramatic weather hitting the United Kingdom is providing ammunition for the proponents of the embryonic shale gas industry.
After more than 24 hours of snow and freezing conditions, with most of the country’s kids staying home from school, The National Grid PLC (LON:NG.) has cautioned that it is running low on gas.
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At 5:45am, it issued a ‘gas deficit warning’.
1/2 National gas demand today is high and due to the extreme weather conditions, there have been gas supply losses overnight. At 5.45am this morning we issued a ‘Gas Deficit Warning’ to the market.
— National Grid Media (@Grid_Media) March 1, 2018
2/2 This is an indication to the market that we’d like more gas to be made available to ensure the safe and reliable operation of the national gas network. We are in communication with industry partners and are closely monitoring the situation.
— National Grid Media (@Grid_Media) March 1, 2018
It has sparked calls for the UK to seize the shale opportunity which promises to be a significant domestic source of gas which would reduce the country’s dependence upon foreign imports.
“The UK is worryingly dependent on gas imports and this is forecast to increase to 80% by 2035,” said Ken Cronin, chief executive of industry group UK Onshore Oil and Gas.
Cronin added: “Given that nearly 50% of our electricity is produced by gas and 84% of our homes are heated with it, the need to ensure we have our own homegrown source of gas rather than pursuing this continued over-reliance on imports has today become very evident.
IGas Energy sees increasing momentum for UK shale
“We believe that the right way forward is to produce British natural gas from shale onshore and we are working hard to achieve this goal.”
Firms such as Cuadrilla, IGas Energy and Third Energy are at the forefront of Britain’s shale gas industry and new projects are lined up for 2018 and 2019, but, progress has been slow – at least partially due to local politics and permitting issues.