§ Lord Hardy of Wathasked Her Majesty's Government:
What proportion of gas used by gas fired power stations will need to be imported by the year 2010. [HL661]
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleThe proportion of imported gas used in power stations in the year 2010 will depend on a wide range of factors including the amount of gas used in power stations and the relative costs of developing new gas fields within the UK and abroad.
Analysis carried out for our October 1998 White Paper' suggested the UK was likely to become a net importer of gas some time between 2003 and 2009, that import requirements would be modest initially, but that by 2020, the UK might need to import between 55 per cent and 90 per cent of its gas requirements.
9WAThe programme of electricity market reform announced in the White Paper is designed to remove distortions in the electricity market that encouraged excessive construction of new gas-fired power stations.
1(Conclusions of The Review of Energy Sources for Power Generation and Government response to fourth and fifth Reports of the Trade and Industry Committee. Cm 4071).