Gas alert as demand and prices rise

[fuzzy]

Lucky we have all those heaps of gas next to power stations, or this might be a problem:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... ens-supply

[mikepepler]

Apparently Gazprom is investigating routing the gas into Europe other ways, but I can't imagine there being minimal impact if this is an important hub that's exploded.

On a related point, I was trying to figure out the impact of the Forties pipeline shutdown. It seems that the refinery it leads to did some processing to separate gas from the oil, but it seems that most of the fields in that area export gas to St Fergus. *However*, these fields produce condensate as well as gas, and while the gas goes to St Fergus, the condensate goes through the Forties pipeline. So if they can't send the condensate down the pipe, does that mean production of gas has to stop too? I'm guessing that might be the case, unless condensate can be buffered up, or loaded onto tankers?

It's also worth noting how much imports from Langeled have dropped today, check out the 24 hour view here:
http://mip-prod-web.azurewebsites.net/E ... Page/Index

It'll be interesting to see how the system copes in the coming days, and also beyond if this hub in Austria takes some time to fix and the weather stays cold...

[johnhemming2]

Any significant reduction in imports for more than a week or two would be most serious and would probably require that a state of emergency be declared.

Is there any public way of working out where the LNG boats are?

[mikepepler]

Any significant reduction in imports for more than a week or two would be most serious and would probably require that a state of emergency be declared.

Is there any public way of working out where the LNG boats are?

Yes, for Milford Haven:
https://www.mhpa.co.uk/vessels-arriving/

Of course, they could turn round before they arrive!

[mikepepler]

Ah, I've found my answer regarding the knock-on effect of the Forties pipeline being closed, through some REMIT notices here: https://www.remit.gb.net/

https://www.remit.gb.net/remits/353
"Britannia Facility Shutdown due to Shutdown of FPS Pipeline" - that's 9.3mcm/day missing

https://www.remit.gb.net/remits/354
"Elgin Franklin gas export has had to stop due to the shutdown of the oil export pipeline."- that's 10mcm/day missing

Combined with the Austrian explosion and cold weather, this can't be good...

[PS_RalphW]

Gas problems hasn't stopped us burning it in open cycle gas turbines this evening.

If all the production capacity you have is gas, you will burn gas until you cant.

[Potemkin Villager]

Any significant reduction in imports for more than a week or two would be most serious and would probably require that a state of emergency be declared.

Perfect for Christmas. I wonder how many here remember the three day week?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-Day_Week

No miners to blame this time and no easy way for the UK to buy
it's way out of trouble.

[fuzzy]

A 3 day week will not help now. We have no industry to reduce consumption. If you send home x000 workers, most will consume as much gas at home as they do at work.

[RenewableCandy]

Probably more, because the empty offices will still be heated and the workers'll fire-up their CH during the day.

[Potemkin Villager]

Probably more, because the empty offices will still be heated and the workers'll fire-up their CH during the day.

Lateral thinking obviously needed here. Seems the only thing that might work would be finding some way to make folk stay in bed in their cave all day and hibernate over the Winter Solstice.......

[kenneal - lagger]

Thank god for a large tank of diesel, a stack of LPG bottles and an even bigger stack of wood together with the wherewithal to burn it all reasonably efficiently.

[adam2]

Gas problems hasn't stopped us burning it in open cycle gas turbines this evening.

If all the production capacity you have is gas, you will burn gas until you cant.

Under present circumstances, yes. There is not yet any shortage of gas, and there IS a statutory requirement to supply electricity.

If a serious gas shortage occurred then a state of emergency could be declared and the operation of OCGT could be prohibited (unless burning oil rather than natural gas)
This could lead to power cuts during the hours in which the OCGT plant would otherwise have run.

The declaration of a state of emergency would also allow, and perhaps require, the burning of oil in place of gas in circumstances where this would otherwise be prohibited.
It would also facilitate the closure of roads when needed in order to make oil deliveries, the volumes needed would be a major logistical challenge.
As a ROUGH guide, one litre of light oil would produce about 4KWH.
So 400, 000 KW of generating capacity will need about 100,000 litres an hour, or a road tanker every few minutes.
And that is to meet less than 1% of national electricity demand.

[kenneal - lagger]

I was driving past Andover yesterday on the A303 Bypass and there was a huge plume of steam arising just to the south of the bypass. As it was such a clear morning you could see the plume rising and then being blown out horizontally for many miles. I was told that this was probably a large biomass burning power station in action.

[mikepepler]

The reduced output through Langeled is due to a power outage and gas alarm at Troll A:
https://www.kallanishenergy.com/2017/12 ... t-troll-a/

[mikepepler]

About 900 GWh withdrawn from medium range storage today.
http://mip-prod-web.azurewebsites.net/P ... View/Index

Good job it's getting milder, as we'd only last a couple of weeks at that rate!