Supply of natural gas not expected to be disrupted this winter, network operator says

Gas Networks Ireland said it does not anticipate any disruption to gas supply this winter.

The state company responsible for distributing the fuel said there was “both enough gas supply sources and enough network capacity to meet the anticipated gas demand projections over the coming winter period”.

The company’s winter outlook includes a “1-in-50 winter peak day” scenario where demand spikes on the back of an extremely cold day.

Last winter Europe was convulsed by warnings of possible fuel and energy shortages as Russia’s war in Ukraine intensified. The situation here was compounded worse-than-expected wind generation.

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“Last year, in winter 2022/23, we experienced historic levels of both demand for, and supply of, gas,” Gas Networks Ireland’s future networks manager Siobhán O’Halloran said.

“In fact, the highest daily gas demand was recorded on December 15th 2022 mainly due to the need for gas to generate electricity. It’s also particularly notable as wind generation was not exceptionally low that day,” she said.

According to the company latest outlook, about 18 per cent of the State’s natural gas requirements will be supplied from the Corrib gas field off the coast of Co Mayo during the winter period, October 2023 to March 2024.

The remaining 82 per cent will be sourced from Britain via the Moffat interconnector – which is Ireland’s entry point for imported gas.

“According to National Gas Transmission, the transmission system operator for gas in Britain, there is no significant forecasted change to the supply quantities available to Britain, and hence to Ireland, for the winter ahead,” Gas Networks Ireland said.

The company also noted that as of October 1st this year, the EU gas storage facilities reached 96 per cent on average, equating to the highest amount of gas stored within the last five years.

“These current high storage levels, along with improvements to existing gas infrastructure and commissioning of new gas infrastructure throughout the EU - as well as enhanced cooperation between gas operators - reduce the dependence on gas supplies from Russia,” it said.

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