Our gas
Gas that is bought from abroad to supplement our North Sea supplies reaches the National Grid from European pipelines. A little comes from Russia, but it’s only 0.5% of the UK’s supply.
North Sea gas production peaked in 2000 and has been declining at a rate of 2% a year. Since 2009, around 70% of the UK’s gas will come from UK North Sea gas fields.
Increasingly, gas is imported as liquefied natural gas (LNG); natural gas cooled to about -165°C and compressed to make it easier to transport. In this form it can be shipped all over the world, just like oil. The biggest exporters of LNG are Qatar, Algeria, Indonesia and Malaysia.
For the latest information on energy and the environment go to www.guardian.co.uk/environment/energy
