BLBG: U.K. Natural Gas Advances on Concern Storage Levels Are Low
U.K. natural gas for next month rose on concern that the amount of fuel held in storage is too low.
The February contract advanced 0.9 pence, or 1.6 percent, to 54.3 pence a therm at 9:08 p.m. local time today, according to broker ICAP Plc. That’s equal to $7.56 a million British thermal units. A therm is 100,000 Btus. Gas for March advanced 1.5 pence to 54.35 pence a therm.
Rough, the U.K. biggest gas-storage site, was 54 percent full as of yesterday morning, according to National Grid Plc data. The facility contains the least amount of gas at this period in the heating season in the last five years. Gas for next week gained 1.25 pence, or 2.3 percent, to 54.75 pence.
Britain can store only 5 percent of its annual gas consumption, compared with France’s 18 percent and Germany’s 20 percent, according to Centrica Plc.
South Hook Gas Co. said yesterday a newly built import terminal will receive its first cargo of liquefied gas in the next few weeks.
The Tembek LNG tanker has sailed from the Middle East bound for Milford Haven in South Wales, he said. The ship’s arrival will coincide with “final commissioning steps” at the terminal, the official at the company said yesterday.
U.K. demand for gas in the 24 hours through 6 a.m. tomorrow is forecast at 376 million cubic meters, according to National Grid, 14 million cubic meters fewer than yesterday.
Britain has ample supplies of gas today. The country’s pipelines will contain 362 million cubic meters of gas at that time, 14 million more than at the start of today.
Declining Production
The U.K., Europe’s largest natural gas user, is turning to seaborne imports of the fuel to make up for declining production at its fields in the North and Irish Seas.
Qatar, the Gulf state that’s become the world’s largest LNG exporter, will use a fleet of 14 tankers to ship gas to the Welsh port.
South Hook may receive up to 7.5 million tons of LNG, or 10.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year, in its first phase. The terminal’s capacity will double by 2012. The chilled, liquid gas will be stored in tanks bigger than London’s Royal Albert Hall.
