Norway has warned that gas exports to the UK that also supply mainland Europe could be shut off this weekend if a workers’ strike escalates, with up to 60 per cent of the Scandinavian country’s supplies under threat from industrial action.Norway has warned that gas exports to the UK that also supply mainland Europe could be shut off this weekend if a workers’ strike escalates, with up to 60 per cent of the Scandinavian country’s supplies under threat from industrial action.
Norway’s Gassco, the state-owned pipeline operator, said on Tuesday that “in a worst-case scenario, deliveries to the UK could stop totally”, with striking workers planning to extend the shutdowns on Saturday to a key distribution hub that supplies the UK. The UK has become an important conduit for moving supplies to Europe, with its export pipelines to Belgium and the Netherlands running at speed to send excess imports of liquefied natural gas and Norwegian supplies into continental storage before the colder months descend.
The strikes that began on Monday are set to expand to three more sites by the end of Tuesday, disrupting around 13 per cent of Norway’s natural gas exports. The troubles over Norwegian supplies come as traders turn increasingly pessimistic on Moscow resuming the flow of gas through Nord Stream 1, the pipeline between north-western Russia and Germany, at full-tilt once it comes back from maintenance due to start next week for 10 days.
“UK has got lots of LNG imports coming in so should be fine, even if it creates some tightness in the market,” said Marzec-Manser.