Gas exports from UK to Europe disrupted due to equipment failure: operator

Natural gas exports from the UK via Belgium to Europe have been halted due to equipment failure, operator Interconnector Limited said on March 5, amid high EU dependence on alternative supplies to replace Russian imports.

The impact from the disruption at the link's export facilities that started on March 4 will be 27.1 Gwh and may last until March 8, Interconnector Ltd. said on its website.

Belgian gas infrastructure operator Fluxys owns the majority Interconnector Ltd., which has a bi-directional pipeline linking the two countries.

The UK has been exporting higher volumes of gas to Belgium at a time when sharply reduced Russian exports lifted prices to record highs in 2022.

High gas storage levels, a warm winter, reduced industrial consumption and rising imports of LNG have helped lower gas and power prices in the EU, which used to rely on Russian gas for over 40% of its supplies before the Feb. 25 invasion of Ukraine.

Lower prices

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed the benchmark Dutch TTF month-ahead price at an all-time high Eur319.98/MWh ($339/MWh) on Aug. 26.

Prices have weakened since then, on the back of healthy storage and demand curtailments with Platts assessing the TTF month-ahead price on March 3 at Eur44.875/MWh, down 4% on the day.

EU member states in July 2022 agreed to reduce their gas demand between August 2022 and March 2023 by 15% compared to their average consumption from the previous five years through measures of their own choosing.

EU gas consumption in the period August 2022 to January 2023 was 19.3% lower than average for the same period from 2017-22, ahead of the EU's 15% savings target which expires at the end of March.