UK will not be affected by Putin’s gas supply as ‘half our gas supply comes from within British waters’

The Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has said that the UK will not be affected by Putin’s hold on gas supplies as the UK has their own supplies, but he warned Europe will not be better off.

Speaking to the Express Kwarteng said Britain has a “reliable and diverse” supple of gas from “British territorial waters.”

This comes as Germany has halted the Nord 2 gas pipeline from Russia in response to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

The British Business Secretary told Express.co.uk, “We have one of the most reliable and diverse energy systems in the world, with half our gas supply coming from within British territorial waters.

“All this means that, unlike other countries in Europe, we are in no way dependent on Russian gas supply.”

Kwarteng added, “Ultimately, gas is expensive and renewables are cheap. To protect consumers in the long term and to better insulate the UK from volatile global markets, we need to become more self-reliant and generate more clean power in the UK.

“Put simply, the more clean, cheap, and secure power we generate at home, the less exposed we will be too expensive gas prices set by global markets.”

Danil Bochkov, from the Russian International Affairs Council, told Express.co.uk: “The impact will be substantial not only on Germany but on the whole EU since it could not diversify supplies that fast.

“But this is going to be more of a mid-term impact because NS2 has not been launched yet, so Berlin was not relying on its as a source of gas supply.”

Bochkov added, “The expectation of the NS2 launch which was expected to supply vast amounts of gas could stabilise market energy prices over time.

“Now, the gas and oil prices are most likely to keep climbing worldwide, because Germany and Europe would struggle hard to find a substitute supporter capable of delivering the same amount of gas. If it could at all.”