Written question asked by Stephen Crabb (Conservative) on Friday, 6 October 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 9 October 2006. It was answered by Malcolm Wicks (Labour) on Monday, 9 October 2006 on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry.

Fuel Stocks

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many days supply of (a) petroleum products, (b) natural gas and (c) coal were held in storage in the UK in (i) 1995 and (ii) 2005.

Answer: For petroleum products, stocks at the end of the December 1995 were equivalent to 80 days of consumption. For 2005 the equivalent figure was 74 days. By July 2006 stocks had risen to the equivalent of 81 days’ consumption.For coal, stocks at the end of the December 1995 were equivalent to 96 days of consumption. For 2005 the equivalent figure was 93 days, but this falls to 77 days if the average rate of consumption during the first quarter of 2005 is used since consumption during winter quarters is higher than the average. By July 2006 coal stocks had shown a seasonal rise to the equivalent of 97 days' average consumption.For gas, indigenous gas fields connected only to the UK transmission system and in continuous production act in the same way as storage facilities for other fuels. However, gas demand is seasonal and storage capability is necessary to meet peak winter demand and daily demand fluctuations and to enable shippers to balance the gas they put into the network with their offtakes on a daily basis. Even in winter gas storage is unlikely to be used as a continuous form of supply, and stocks are replenished during periods of lower demand. Indicator 2 of the Sixth Report of the Joint Energy Security of Supply Working Group (April 2006), a copy of which is in the Library of the House, shows how gas storage contributes to gas supply over the 100 coldest winter days.

Secondary information