Europe

A widening natural gas glut in Britain will bolster the profits of UK utilities and could threaten the dominance of gas monopolies in continental Europe, according to a leading gas industry forecaster.

The gas oversupply could rise to as much as a fifth of the total market in the winter of 2008-09, depressing the wholesale price of gas to less than 30p per therm in the winter months and 20p per therm in the summer. That is half the cost of fuel in the same periods in 2006, the Energy Contract Company says in its UK Gas Market Review 2007.
The gas glut has boosted the earnings of utilities selling gas to consumers, transforming a loss-making business to substantial profit, Niall Trimble, director of the Energy Contract Company, said. He said that the good times for gas companies could improve further.