gas prices

[sambro]

how on earth has britain got in this position, where we are buying in gas from abroad? where are these watchdog people, that are supposed to look after the consumer?its a case of rip off britain yet again!

[jno]

perhaps we buy in gas from abroad because we don't produce enough ourselves?

[Goodsoulette]

Err...because our profuction is down. The fields in the north sea is depleting so that means we have to go elsewhere. Europe's gas companies are still regulated so they look after their customers first so they dont hike up the prices even though they could make more money selling to us, hence why gas isnt just flowing down that pipeline from Zeebrugge.

It's not a case of rip off Britain at all.

[sambro]

o k then, where did we get our gas from in the 50s and 60s?

[kempie]

Prior to the drilling of the North Sea oilfields in the late 60s/early 70s (and the associated release of natural gas) Britain was mostly dependent on the poisonous, flammable distillate of coal known as Town Gas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_gas

[jno]

doesn't matter where we used to get it from - the thing is, it isn't renewable. You use it, it's gone. As stocks run out, prices rise - that's the law of supply and demand. Oil is also being used up, as coal was. That's why renewable sources of energy will be needed by our grandchildren, maybe our children

[123everton]

Sambro if you know your history then you'll recall the miners strike and the aftermath. The Tory government wanted to do away with the pits and the quickest solution they found to sell to a gullible public was environmental.
North Sea gas was cheap back then and so began what became known as "the dash for gas", gas fired power stations started springing up everywhere and the old coal ones were decommisioned (whilst low quality cheap Australian coal was imported also).
Some environmentalists complained about the finite supply of North Sea gas at the time and prdicted the fact that it would soon run out (the only prediction I can recall any environmentalist getting right) they wanted renewables whilst the coal lobby wanted newer "clean" coal fired stations, they were both right.
But were shouted down by the vested self interest of the government, and the easily led.

[sambro]

right, ill tell you what i think, yes i do remember the miners strike.i blame thatcher and her goverment for our predicament what were in now.yes everton, whats wrong with clean coal fired power stations?in south africa, they even produce oil from coal!!lets have a big round of applause for maggie(not)

[Whickerman]

Sorry guys, the future's nuclear and when the science perfects it, hydrogen power. Coal, gas and oil will be a memory only in a few decades.

[chiswisik]

Time to start on the good old bicycle.

[kwicky]

Our problem stems from past politicians in Margaret Thatchers era. They sold off blocks of the North Sea at a very cheap rate to boost our coffers so that the rich could enjoy enormous tax breaks. Norway on the other hand conserved their stocks so that future generations could also benefit. I do not generally believe in Nationalisation but compare our handling of resources such as oil and gas with that now evident in Russia who assumed overall control of its assets.

[jordielaz]

what's thatcher got to do with gas prices anyway. The UK was in a total mess before she came into government. The fact was, coal was a dying industry and unfortunately it had to go. The capitalism fuelled in the eighties by thatcher has made this country alot richer than it would have been.