On 01/03/2018 11:16, Martin Brown wrote:
On 01/03/2018 10:00, Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
Â*Â*Â*Â*newshound writes:
On 01/03/2018 08:55, Andrew Gabriel wrote:
On the news just now...

Apparently gas consumption today would be 400M cubic metres, but
there's only 350M cubic metres available, so a gas deficit has been
declared. This means large industrial users will have their gas cut
off for part of the day.

The two contributory factors are 1/3rd extra usage today over normal
due to the weather, and two gas import docks broken down.

Centrica closed our North Sea gas storage last year, which held 9
weeks supply of gas, due ot it being not commercially viable
anymore. Gas spot price currently 190p/therm.

ROFL Market farces in action.
Just in time supply of gas in mid-winter "what could possibly go wrong?"

Interesting. Does "large industrial users" include CCGTs?

That question went through my mind too.

Many years ago when the CCGT's sprung up, they all bought cheap
gas on tarrifs which allowed them to be shut off if there's a
shortage of gas, and that nearly lead to blackouts on one
occasion. The upshot was that they shouldn't be allowed to
buy gas on tarrifs which allow shutting off, but I don't know
if that was implemented in regulations or law (or in practice).

I suspect plenty of CCGTs are on the intermittent rate so it could get
interesting before too long (ancient Chinese usage). Interesting==bad.

If there is a gas crunch then we will see who is on the intermittent
tariffs - there are fewer steelworks to cut off than there used to be.

For now it is just affecting the spot market pricing.

Daughter works for Gazprom, must give her a ring tonight.