So, what can be done to solve the incoming energy shock and limit the burden on British households? Despite the potential abundance of supplies off our coast, our Government is seemingly unwilling to capitalise on the obvious solution.
Remarkably, Ed Miliband continues to argue in favour of the existing ban on new North Sea oil and gas exploration. He says that increased drilling would not make a difference to UK energy prices, as we would still be beholden to prices set on the international markets. This is deeply misleading.
The confusion is in the lack of differentiation between Liquified Natural Gas and Gas. Liquified Natural Gas is gas cooled in dedicated terminals to -120C at which point gas transitions into a liquid which can be transported to markets around the world (much like crude oil) via ships. When the Liquified Natural Gas reaches its destination, it is re-gasified and sold.
However, gas at ambient temperatures can only be transported in comparably large volumes over long distances via pipelines. There are no liquification terminals in the UK. Domestically produced gas cannot therefore be converted into Liquified Natural Gas in large quantities. There are also no pipelines through which UK volumes could be transported to places such as Japan, China and India.
All of the gas produced in the UK North Sea is instead transported to markets via pipelines. Whilst there are pipelines that connect the UK to continental Europe and Norway, these markets are dominated by Norwegian gas and have no need for volumes from the UK.
UK production is therefore realistically only available to the UK domestic market. Therefore, increased production from the UK would only act to reduce our dependence on LNG thereby reducing our exposure to global gas prices.
In addition to reducing prices and volatility, increasing gas production in the UK could also be a valuable source of revenue generation for the economy. Unlike imported gas, UK producers pay tax.
Additionally, the Government is expected to contribute £5-8billion over the next decade to the cost of decommissioning North Sea production facilities. Increased production will prolong the life of these fields and delay the cost of decommissioning, not to mention creating and saving jobs.
This additional government funding could then be ring-fenced and targeted towards funding the cost of building new renewable capacity, accelerating the countries transition to green energy.
Whatever our renewable plans might be, gas is a reality that is here to stay for some time yet and could be the cleanest way to aid the transition towards renewables. Domestic production is also significantly greener than imports.
In the coming weeks, we will see politicians from across the spectrum falling over each other to offer solutions to a heightening energy crisis. Renewables, price caps, support funds and removing taxes from bills will all be mooted as the key to protecting households from surging costs. However, don’t let yourself be fooled, the answer lies off the coast of northern Scotland.