Higher LNG capacity at Milford Haven enabled the UK to export a record amount of natural gas to the continent in 2010 and also pushed the volume of gas traded in the UK to an all-time high, according to data released Thursday by the Department of Energy and Climate Change.
DECC data showed that in 2010, the UK exported 170,000 GWh of gas with the record exports heading to the Netherlands through the Bacton BBL pipeline, to Ireland, with near-record exports sent to Belgium via the UK-Belgium Interconnector.
"In 2010 the volume of gas traded in the UK was at its highest-ever level. The virtual doubling of LNG imports because of two new LNG terminals at Milford Haven means there is greater scope to export natural gas in the summer months when UK demand is substantially lower than in the winter period," DECC said.
"Exports to mainland Europe via the ... Interconnector in the latest three months were significantly higher than a year ago until unseasonably cold weather struck towards the end of November. Imports of LNG accounted for just over a third of total imports. Of the remaining two-thirds of pipeline imports, just under a half of total imports came from Norway," DECC said.
Data showed that in December, which was the coldest December in 40 years, saw imports rise 20% from December 2009 levels at 76,397 GWh, the highest level since 2003.
Colder-than-average temperatures at the beginning and end of 2010 also pushed up gas output from the UK transmission systems by 8.6% in January 2010 compared with January 2009, the highest-ever monthly demand, DECC data showed.
DECC also said the cold pushed gas output 6.7% higher than a year ago in the three months to December 2010, adding demand could have been much higher had it not been for a decline in gas demand for electricity generation in the latter part of 2010.
Gross gas production in January 2010 was 4.3% lower than in 2009, one of the smaller decreases in recent years, though against a substantial fall in 2009, DECC said, while in the last three months of the year it was 8.9% below the same period of 2009.
Based on nominated flows through the Bacton-Zeebrugge Interconnector natural gas imports were up 29.4% year-on-year in the same period, while shipped LNG imports were 84.3% higher.
Data based on physical flows showed imports and exports of natural gas were 29.6% and 30.2% higher, respectively, than a year ago. The overall rise in net imports for both nominated and physical flows was the same, up 29.4%.
