Written question asked by John Hemming (Liberal Democrat) on Monday, 22 February 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 24 February 2010. It was answered by David Kidney (Labour) on Tuesday, 30 March 2010 on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

Natural Gas: Storage

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will make it his policy to prohibit exports of gas in circumstances in which gas is also being removed from storage in the UK.

Answer: No. One of the strengths of the British gas market—demonstrated in the coldest winter for some 30 years—is the resilience provided by its diverse and over-sized gas supply infrastructure. Arbitrarily constraining the use of one kind of supply infrastructure could have harmful unintended consequences—for example, in forcing the gas market to use more expensive supplies from time to time, and, in the longer term, in damaging the commercial incentives to construct gas supply infrastructure. Ultimately this could mean higher prices, and less reliable supplies, for consumers.

Secondary information