UK contingency plan to shut gas pipelines to Europe would be madness
What the crisis in the energy world definitely does not need right now is a Brexity row between the UK and the European Union over the supply of gas to mainland Europe.
The possibility of trouble was raised by the FT’s report that National Grid has a contingency plan to shut the interconnector gas pipelines to the Netherlands and Belgium if UK supplies run severely short. The emergency powers clearly exist, and it’s probably right that the operator has modelled every conceivable scenario. The key point, though, is that the UK would be mad to shut the interconnectors. It would be a self-defeating act.
As continental European operators were quick to point out, having gas pipelines that can be relied upon to flow in either direction according to need is firmly in the UK’s interests. The UK is exporting huge volumes as we have the liquefied natural gas terminals capable of landing gas from ships to be sent to the continent. Come the winter, though, the position is often the other way around as the UK, thanks to ministerial shortsightedness in the recent past, no longer has meaningful storage capacity (thus the scramble to see if the Rough facility can be reopened).
The government attempted to calm matters by saying the priority is to work with the EU and “there is absolutely nothing to suggest that these emergency procedures would be needed now”. The spirit of that statement is laudable but the “now” is slightly problematic as nobody has suggested an emergency has arrived already. Keep the clarifications coming: as long as safety is not compromised, the pipelines should be open whatever happens.
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