Reuters: UK faces total winter LNG cut-off risk - Merrill

Britain risks a total cut-off in liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply next winter as the world's biggest producer Qatar skirts Europe in favour of more lucrative exports to Asia, Merrill Lynch Bank of America analysts said in a research note on Thursday.

With Asian demand surging, mass diversions could trigger severe gas shortages in the UK and set wholesale gas prices soaring some 25 percent to 90 pence per therm, the analysts wrote.

Britain's dependency on seaborne gas imports has grown in the past two years, making up about a quarter of total supply in 2011 as North Sea reserves declined by 10 percent year on year.  MORE