UK demand for gas set to grow by 16 % per year

UK natural gas demand for power generation is set to grow at an average annual rate of 16.1 % between now and 2000, a report by London-based analysts MarketLine International said. The report forecasts demand for gas for power generation will increase from 193.6 TeraWatt hours (TWh) in 1996 to 351.7 TWh in 2000. Overall UK gas demand is expected to grow by an average annual 4.4 % over the same period, from 851.6 TWh in 1996 to 1012.5 TWh in 2000, the report said. But the growth rate in generating demand is overshadowed by the phenomenal surge of recent years
Between 1992 and 1996, demand in the power generating sector grew by 81.4 % a year, from 17.89 TWh in 1992 to last year's 193.6 TWh. Growth in gas use in other sectors will be much smaller, the report said, with domestic demand forecast to rise by an annual 1.8 % to 347.7 TWh in 2000, slightly less than will then be used in power generation.
The report added that this boom in demand, as well as the beginning of exports to Ireland and,from late 1998, to continental Europe, have changed the perception that the UK's current gas surplus would continue beyond 2000.