UK Gas Prices Highest in the World
November 23, 2005 at 11:46 am
As North sea supplies run low, gas companies are forced to up their prices, forcing gas prices up to the highest in the world. Such shortages and high prices raise concerns of supplies being cut off during this cold winter.
Record prices as high as £1.17 ($2.01) a therm sees UK costs more than $50 a barrel higher than U.S. gas in oil equivalent terms and ten times the price of European coal.
To cope with these high prices, suppliers have put up their bills and a further increase would not be unexpected. This is a turn around for Britain, who used to have some of the lowest gas prices in Europe but rising oil costs and reliance on imports has had this effect on the industry.
The markets in Europe are controlled by dominant former monopolies and there has been some problems with not enough gas being imported, despite the high prices. A reform of the European energy market has been called by Britain to try to lower prices and allow more access to the EU pipeline networks.
