UK Gas Production, Gas-Firing Up in 1Q
UK natural gas production rose by 5.6% year on year in 1Q2017, with January output well up. This is partly explained by the February 2016 start-up of the large Total-operated Laggan-Tormore field in the UK West of Shetland offshore.
Data published May 25 from the government's Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Beis) showed that 1Q gas production was 11.1mn metric tons of oil equivalent, compared with 10.5mn mtoe in 1Q 2016. That contrasted with oil/liquids production which fell by 4.7% to 13.1mn mtoe, and coal which declined by 12% to 0.6mn mtoe.
UK total indigenous energy production was 0.1% lower year on year at 33.1mn mtoe – which included nuclear power production up 1.8% at 3.9mn mtoe.
Production of electricity from gas continued to rise, at the expense of coal: figures from major power generators collated by Beis showed that their gas-fired power production rose 10.2% year-on-year to 33.89 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 1Q 2017, ahead of nuclear 16.03 TWh, wind 10.27 TWh, and coal 9.97 TWh – the last being 28.5% lower than in 1Q2016.
Gas thus provided 44.3% of UK electricity generation by major power producers, double that of total renewables on 21.7%, nuclear at 20.9% and coal 13%. The opening of a new combined-cycle gas plant (CCGT) at Carrington, Manchester, in September 2016 boosted UK gas-fired generation capacity. New gas-fired plant though is likelier to be the less-efficient reciprocating engines that respond within minutes to demand surges, such as Centrica's Brigg plant.
All data above is provisional in respect of March 2017.
The UK was the second largest national market in the EU-28 in 2016 consuming 78bn m3, ahead of Germany and behind Italy, according to data published two months ago by industry association Eurogas; production now covers a little more than half the UK's gas consumption.
Mark Smedley