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Uncertainty Over How Much LNG UK Will Receive This Winter

The amount of liquefied natural gas (LNG) the UK will receive over the winter months is uncertain, according to the latest reports.

Concerns about supply and delays to plants restarting after outages are affecting power supplies and causing tension, Reuters reports. What’s more, wholesale gas prices are predicted to remain at elevated levels over the colder season, the article suggests - earlier this year gas prices rose to levels last seen in 2015.

Last year, a number of nuclear reactors were halted to allow for safety inspections, which created a shortfall of power supplies. This, in turn, increased demand for gas from British operators.

Recently, there have been several nuclear power plant outages in Norway and in France, more than were expected, commented Trevor Sikorksi, head of natural gas, coal and carbon research at Energy Aspects.

“In October and November we could see similar levels of nuclear outages and again that could lead to reasonably low (power supply) levels so there could be a repeat of what we saw last year,” he told the news agency.

In countries like Spain, Italy and France, wholesale gas trading prices to northwest areas of Europe are high as the region has become more reliant on imports. However, prices are still lower than those of Asian LNG, the article claims.

Stocks of LNG at the Isle of Grain in the UK, at Gate in the Netherlands and at Zeebrugge in Belgium are high but traders are assuming most of these volumes will be bound for Asia to meet Chinese demand.

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