Britain has just two days of gas stores left as Middle East flows falter

Britain’s entire gas reserves currently stand at 6,700 GWh, which is enough for just one-and-a-half days of demand. This is less than half of the 18,000 GWh that was in storage at the same time last year.

A similar volume of gas is also stored in liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities.

Prices have nearly doubled after Qatar shut down the world’s largest LNG plant following an Iranian drone attack, while the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has further heightened fears of a global energy shortage.

Under normal conditions, about 20% of global oil and natural gas shipments pass through the strategically important narrow waterway connecting the Middle East to the open seas.

However, due to the war with the US and Israel, Iran has threatened to set any ship that passes through the Strait “on fire”, causing sea traffic to come to an almost complete halt, causing immense havoc on the global energy markets.

It is understood Britain is especially vulnerable due to our dependence on imports.

In 2017, the previous Conservative government approved the closure of Centrica’s Rough storage facility in the North Sea, which had supplied about 70% of Britain’s gas storage capacity.

This was then partially reopened in 2022, though it remains far below its earlier capacity.

Fortunately, British households should be protected from the sharp increases in prices on their energy bills, as next month’s energy price cap has already been decided.

The latest Ofgem energy price cap, coming into effect from April 1, will be £1,641 a year, a 6.7% fall from the current level, per The Mirror.

However, analysts have warned that the rising tensions in the Middle East will mean prices are likely to increase when the next cap is due in July.

There are fears this could rise to £1,801, or even as high as £2,500, the level paid by UK consumers when the government introduced the emergency Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.