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Writer's pictureBen Philips

China and Russia will determine Britain's winter fate - by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard for the Telegraph

Hot on the heels of the press release from the Global Warming Policy Foundation (Suspend climate policies and cancel COP26 to save Britain from energy crisis - see Energy Articles), we enclose the following article on the impending energy crisis facing Britain as we head into winter by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - itself a follow-up to his earlier piece (Europe's energy crisis queers the pitch horribly for COP26 - also in Energy Articles).


The lack of preparedness is shocking even for a country mired in as much chaos as the UK currently appears to be.


"The UK faces this energy crisis with no national strategic storage of gas in reserve. It was not Mr Johnson who oversaw the closure of the main reserve at Rough off the Yorkshire coast but it was a Tory policy and it is he who will face the political consequences.

This Government will have to explain why Britain’s gas storage capacity was slashed to 1.7pc of annual demand when the global norm is a safety buffer of 20pc, and why it has subcontracted the task to countries in Continental Europe, now facing their own supply squeeze."


More worryingly there seems to be little understanding even at the highest level of the implications to the UK of the current crisis:


"[This] gas crunch is a gift to the Kremlin as it tries to coerce EU regulators into certifying the Nord Stream 2 pipeline on Russia’s geostrategic terms. Any hope that Mr Putin would lower the pressure to avert an autumn crisis vanished on Monday.


Kwasi Kwarteng, the Energy Secretary, said Britain is secure because it does not import Russian gas. Really? We import European gas, which is pooled in the integrated European system, and where does he think that gas comes from? Norwegian supply is reliable but mostly goes where the price is highest and therefore is in symbiotic rhythm with Gazprom."


The full article is enclosed below with a link to the original beneath it:




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