Britain has completely stopped fuel imports from Russia for the first time since records began 25 years ago, while domestic gas producers urged more government support to continue boosting output.
Total imports of goods from Russia fell to £33mln in June 2022, the Office for National Statistics revealed in a Wednesday morning report, the lowest level since records began in January 1997.
Fuel imports were zero for the first time in that period.
Economic sanctions applied by the government are "likely to have driven the decreases in imports from and exports to Russia; however self-sanctioning, whereby traders voluntarily seek alternatives to Russian goods, is also likely a factor", the ONS said.
Meanwhile, offshore energy body Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) flagged that official data from last month showed UK gas producers have boosted domestic production this year and so cut dependence on imported gas, with around half of the UK’s gas needs in recent months met with home-produced fossil fuels.
Official figures show domestic gas production in the first half of 2022 was 26% higher than the same period in 2021, enough to heat almost 3.5mln homes for a year.
Gas was used for 44% of Britain's electricity generation in July.
The additional 3.5bn cubic metres added from UK production in the first half of the year has been driven by a range of factors, said OEUK, which represents oil, gas, hydrogen and wind producers and their supply chain.
New gas fields were started in the southern North Sea, including Harbour Energy PLC's (LSE:HBR) Tolmount field and IOG PLC's (AIM:IOG) Saturn Banks.
There has also been much less planned shutdown activity due to the extent of work completed in 2021 and as companies focus on plant uptime to maximise energy supply, the organisation said, encouraged by government support via a windfall tax relief for investment projects.
British Gas owner Centrica said this month that, subject to agreeing state support, it will recommission its Rough North Sea gas storage facility after five years offline, though Norway's Equinor reportedly threatened to pull funding from a new £4.5bn oil project off the coast of Scotland due to the government's proposed windfall tax.
OEUK said renewable electricity generation and alternative domestic heating sources such as hydrogen were not yet available at the scale needed.
"UK gas producers have already ramped up domestic supplies by 26% in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year. The massive increase in our support for the UK’s gas needs can only be sustained by substantial ongoing investment from gas producer companies," said OEUK Sustainability Director Mike Tholen.
"If we are to continue our efforts to protect UK gas supplies, which remains the backbone of our energy mix for electricity, heating and industrial processes, we need politicians of all parties to support energy produced here in the UK with all the benefits that brings for taxes, energy security and jobs. It’s all the more important at a time when we can’t afford to tighten supplies even further, which is what will naturally happen if domestic production of gas isn’t maintained."
Also today, Deltic Energy PLC (AIM:DELT) flagged two North Sea gas wells scheduled for drilling that could be "enormously valuable" given the supply issues.
For the first, Pensacola, operator Shell, which holds a 70% working interest, will begin work in October, targeting a 309bn cubic feet (BCF) resource, with a commitment recently being made to following this with Selene prospect, which is estimated to host 318BCF of gas.
Earlier this month, Enquest PLC said it was mulling new North Sea investments to make the most of new tax reliefs.