Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Elliot Morley (Labour). It was answered on Thursday, 5 March 2009 on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

Gas Storage

Question: My right hon. Friend will be aware that there is a real need for increased gas storage, not least because when prices were very high due to problems with Russian supply in Europe, gas from the Norwegian gas fields came straight into the UK and into the European market. An interconnector can be a good thing, but there has to be a genuine two-way process. Is he convinced that the European market is properly liberalised, and does not have protectionism, so that when we want to import gas from Europe, we can do so?

Answer: The straight answer is no, I am not convinced that we have yet got a European market that is properly liberalised, but the European Commission is responding to concerns that the Government have repeatedly raised with it about the fact that we need change in Europe. We strongly support, and indeed have been a motivating force for, the work that is going on in the Commission to move forward EU energy liberalisation. There is a lot of work to do on the issue, but let me add that, as my right hon. Friend indicates, the issue is not just about gas storage. Companies have delivered a 400 per cent. increase in Britain's import capacity over the past 10 years. Pipelines including the interconnector, which he mentioned, have been expanded. There are new pipelines, such as the Langeled from Norway and the Balgzand-Bacton line from the Netherlands. The capacity for liquefied natural gas from the Isle of Grain has tripled to 9.8 million tonnes per annum. Britain's gas import capacity is equivalent to 120 per cent. of our annual gas consumption.

Secondary information