Britain holds less than two weeks’ worth of stored gas supply and risks becoming dangerously dependent on foreign imports unless urgent action is taken to reverse the decline of North Sea production — warnings that have intensified pressure on the Labour government over its decision to block new oil and gas exploration licences.
The stark figures, highlighted by industry body Offshore Energies UK, lay bare the scale of Britain’s exposure. An analysis by sector body Energy UK found the country has significantly less natural gas storage capacity than comparable European nations. While the Netherlands holds close to 200 days’ worth of reserves and France nearly 120 days’, Britain has fewer than 20. Enrique Cornejo of Offshore Energies UK warned that on current trajectory, the UK will produce just 18 per cent of its own gas by 2035, with Norway supplying 37 per cent and 46 per cent arriving through liquefied natural gas imports.
The consequences of that dependency, Cornejo warned, could be severe — particularly in times of international tension. “In simple terms, if domestic production falls faster than demand, we will increasingly be competing with other countries for supply at times when demand is highest, which risks higher prices and reduced security of supply,” he said. Gas, he noted, “flows to the highest bidder” on international markets, leaving Britain exposed to sudden price spikes it would have little power to resist. He argued that introducing a new domestic pricing mechanism could unlock investment and allow the UK to produce 58 per cent of its own gas by 2035, reducing LNG imports to below 10 per cent.
Labour has nonetheless reaffirmed its commitment to blocking new licences for oil and gas field exploration and maintaining its ban on fracking as part of its clean energy transition. A spokesperson for the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero said: “After the second fossil fuel crisis in half a decade, our clean power mission is the only way to bring down bills for good and take back control of our energy. The UK has diverse and resilient energy supply and gas will continue to play a key role as we transition to more secure, clean homegrown energy.”
That position has attracted fierce criticism from across the political spectrum. Shadow Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho said it was “completely insane to shut down our own energy supply only to increase our imports of foreign gas with higher emissions instead,” calling on the government to back the North Sea to protect jobs, generate tax revenue and safeguard energy security.
Former Energy Secretary Sir Grant Shapps directed his criticism squarely at Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband, accusing him of leaving the UK in the “absurd position of shutting down our own domestic energy production while making Britain ever more dependent on imported oil and gas — even effectively paying Russia.” He added: “It’s sixth form politics from Ed Miliband — ideological, unserious and increasingly dangerous. A serious country would produce more of its own energy, not make itself more reliant on volatile foreign supplies and hostile regimes.”
Former Business Secretary Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg described Labour’s approach as a “dereliction of duty,” arguing that cheap energy was “the bedrock of economic growth” and that Britain had ample resources to exploit, both in the North Sea and through shale gas extraction. Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice called for a full reversal of policy, saying Labour’s “net zero obsession” was leaving Britain “dangerously exposed.”
Fred de Fossard of the Prosperity Institute offered a broader historical verdict, arguing that successive governments of all major parties had spent two decades eroding Britain’s energy independence by winding down the North Sea, delaying and inflating the cost of new nuclear power and banning onshore gas extraction. “There is no prosperity without energy sovereignty,” he said. “Britain must achieve this through the full use of our oil and gas reserves, harness resources in our overseas territories and implement regulatory reforms to make nuclear power quick and competitive to deliver.”
