Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 52: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources if he is monitoring the British wholesale gas market, in view of its importance for Irish imports; the impact of the sky-rocketing British prices and the first ever declaration of a gas balancing alert there on the Irish gas market; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13616/06]

John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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The Department, the Commission for Energy Regulation and relevant national players monitor developments and potential developments in international energy markets that may impact on the Irish market. This includes developments in the British wholesale market.

Bord Gáis Éireann, BGE, has advised that the gas balancing alert in question resulted from an atypical coincidence of events: supplies of gas from Troll Gas, the biggest supplier of Norwegian gas, were down on normal production; production from the North Sea gas fields was down; and supplies from the Rough gas field — a key storage facility in the UK — were down. The situation was exacerbated by industrial relations problems in France involving workers at the liquefied natural gas storage facilities. Finally, the unseasonably very cold weather in the UK was a factor in that last month was the coldest March since 1947. As a result volatility was experienced in buying and selling of gas on the market, leading to a spike in prices. However, prices began to fall back towards normal levels very shortly after the alert.

The Minister is advised that there were no immediate price or supply implications for Ireland following the gas balancing alert. If such a scenario were to continue however, measures are in place in both jurisdictions whereby gas would be shared out to all sectors depending on a ranking system. On price, BGE's gas purchases have different profiles — a proportion of gas is bought months in advance, while other supplies are bought only weeks and days in advance. While there will always be a small impact, daily spikes in price do not have a material effect. Most large gas purchasers, such as ESB, have similar purchasing profiles.