The UK’s imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) continued to rise in the second quarter of 2020, rising 8.2% compared to the same period last year, Kallanish Energy reports.
The UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy’s Energy Trends report for Q2 2020 details the LNG imported during second quarter this year was 5.62 billion cubic meters (Bcm),a year-over-year increase of 8.2% compared to same period in 2019 (5.19 Bcm).
Despite the increase of LNG imports, total natural gas imports to the UK fell by 23% y-o-y during Q2 2020, from 11.23 Bcm to 8.71 Bcm. The decrease was attributed to lower demand, which fell by 16.1% y-o-y during the quarter due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
LNG imports accounted for 65% of total UK gas imports during the second quarter, beating the previous record of 62% set in Q2 2011. Gas imports from Norway via pipeline saw a sharp decrease during the period, falling by 49% y-o-y to 3.09 Bcm compared to Q2 2019 (6.04 Bcm), primarily due to severely reduced flows via the UK-Norway Langeled pipeline and “maintenance works that have been taking place on that infrastructure.”
Imports of LNG from Qatar totalled 4.4 Bcm during second-quarter, representing a 10.3% y-o-y increase (Q2 2019: 4.0 Bcm), exceeding imports from Norway for only the third time following “notably cold winter of 2010-2011 and the impact of the Fukushima disaster on global LNG markets in 2014.”
Meanwhile, the renewables share of UK electricity generation (wind, solar photovoltaic, hydro and bioenergy) increased from 35.6% in the second quarter of 2019 to 44.6% in the second quarter this year, partly due to increased capacity.