As the Guardian notes in a newsletter this morning:
Great Britain has only two days of fossil gas stored after a decline in energy reserves, as more tankers carrying liquefied natural gas are diverted from their course to Europe towards Asia because of the Iran war. Meanwhile, global oil prices surged past the $100 (£74) a barrel mark for the first time since 2022.
In a world that does not know how to run without large quantities of energy, much of it imported into the UK, this fragility looks like the clearest indication of a widespread failure of planning within the UK economy.
We have known for some time about a lack of gas storage facilities, with those we had having been closed down by the private sector, some time ago.
UK oil pricing remains deeply contentious because we remain a producer, but have to pay international prices for oil produced in the North Sea.
The reality is that we are vulnerable because a critical resource has been left unplanned, with the consequence that the supply has been organised for the benefit of private-sector companies, who will now exploit the current difficulties and shortages to maximise their returns at the expense of most people in the UK.
This is exactly what happened in 2022 when war broke out in Ukraine. There were no real shortages then, but speculation on the possibility that there might be meant that prices skyrocketed, resulting in excessive inflation with penal implications across the economy, including utterly inappropriate interest rate increases to supposedly tackle the resulting inflation when those increases had no impact at all on price levels, except to exacerbate them. The likelihood that this will happen again now looks very high.
Will we never learn that the state has a responsibility to defend people, and that includes managing the economy so that it is resilient against shocks of this sort?
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Such deliberate under planning is proof that we live in an extortionists paradise.
Well done Maggie! It all started with you.
Food Ditto
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/mar/07/uk-stockpile-food-climate-shocks-war
While the armed forces can protect us against war, we need better ‘civil defence’ to protect against what for want of anything else I might call ‘the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune’
In the past while it wasnt perfect there were ‘Ministry of Food’ buffer stocks held at depot around the country something I suggest we need to look at again
France has about 2 – 3 months storage for gas (mostly underground). For the UK, gas storage is the North Sea gas fields (which e.g. France & Germany lacks). The East Riding has interesting geological structures (salt) which could be developed for gas storage, ditto Cheshire.
In terms of price, markets opened @ Euro63/MWh (Rotterdam TTF) having rumbled along @ 50 for last week. Iranians have not yet “gone to work” on Gulf gas fields. Begs the question, if they do, who gains (USA?).
UK could mandate a price for its gas (or could use bulk buy/mandate) for gas for elec generators. This would break the gas-elec link.
Won’t because that would be against markets innit. Doubltess the imbeciles @ the BoE are sharpening their pencils wrt how much to raise interest rates.
I wonder how much food storage/supply chain management we have too. We have a government deeply ignorant of food production, with no interest in farming or how vulnerable reliance on importing food leaves us. It’s currently much more profitable to either out build a solar farm or sell prime farming land for housing. And it’s accepted that allowing farm land to flood is okay. Should it become difficult to import as it did during World War 2 I’m not sure rationing and dig for victory would be enough to feed our much larger population.
Interesting article here by Christian Wolmar
https://transportnews.substack.com/p/can-transport-survive
If he recognises some of the domestic issues does – or should the UK Government and of course it relates to The Internet as well as transport
The markets have failed with gas, water ( no new reservoirs) and so on.
The UK state must step in and sort the mess out.
As long as we are dependent on fossil fuels, it doesn’t end. Even if the planning were better, we are still subject to shocks elsewhere in the world. We don’t control our own destiny. With renewables, we could do, but it requires a government to be brave enough to challenge the neoliberal, private money, fossil fuel approach.
But, as usual, the planning isn’t there.
It’s not just the UK who are hopeless at planning.
Depleted oil reserve leaves US exposed as Iran war pushes up prices.
The reserve currently contains 415mn barrels of oil, or about 20 days of total US consumption — well below its 714mn-barrel capacity.
https://www.ft.com/content/d546fd5b-4a0c-4b90-8bee-9e85b75458ed
At the next election, it isn’t immigration that is the big issue, it should be energy security. The far right, and the Tories, want us to rely on fossil fuels, because they lie about not being able to afford renewables. Farage wants an oil and gas future. He wants to frack the hell out of the country, while also picking up back handers from the fossil fuel lobby.
Only renewables can offer energy security. And only the state can brings us security in that “need”.
https://www.theutilityspecialists.co.uk/the-decline-of-uk-gas-storage-and-its-impact-on-energy-security-and-price-volatility/
Deliberately allowed to happen in full knowledge of the risks involved, and it was done openly. Individuals responsible of course, long gone and enjoying their loot.
Thanks
I see BBC Breakfast’s main story this morning was Cruft’s. If the BBC has activated the “Pack Up Your Troubles”, protocol, we really are in trouble.
UK goin to the dogs – got to keep people’s minds on the right stuff not US planes using Runway One to refuel and re-arm, deary me no.