Long awaited BEIS select committee enquiry into gas Storage

The question of security of supply and the resilience of the UK market is finally back on the table. After an open letter sent to BEIS at the beginning of the winter asking for such a review and with lots of pressure on the gas market between December and March, we are very glad the BEIS select committee will now have a closer look at the situation.

Over the last year, in spite of growing needs for short term flexibility in the UK market, mostly driven by the electricity sector, 70% of UK storage capacity closed down.

Throughout last winter, supply demand shocks have led to unprecedented price spikes, especially in December when the Forties pipeline was stopped and at the end of February during the 'beast from the east' This has done little to ease concerns that the GB gas market is lacking the ability to cushion supply/demand imbalance, with adverse effects on volatility and prices for the end consumers.

What has happened since? BEIS has held a stakeholder workshop in March 2018 to seek views from the industry, but the industry is still awaiting a rigorous review of the situation. BEIS has been gathering inputs from stakeholders over the summer.

We hope the Select Committee will dive deeper into the flexibility needs, the available means to cover these and the fundamental reasons behind such a dramatic reduction in flexibility offer.

Benoit Enault