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| UK could lose half its gas supply over Iran oil embargo |
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 The UK could face losing up to a half of its gas imports if Iran is hit with an international oil embargo and closes a vital shipping route of Strait of Hormuz, an academic warned. Closing the Strait of Hormuz would block a trade route through which 46 percent of Britain's gas imports pass route from Qatar, while 84 percent of the UK's Liquefied Natural Gas imports use the same route. Professor Paul Stevens, a senior research fellow at think-tank Chatham House, said it was ‘extremely unlikely’ Tehran would not retaliate against crippling sanctions. The UK could face losing up to a half of its gas imports if Iran does carry through its threat to close a vital shipping route, he warned. According to a report by Reuters, the imports through the strait represent about 25 percent of Britain's total gas supply. The increasing stand-off in the Persian Gulf has caused several spikes in oil prices in recent weeks and a former military chief has warned that Britain would have to weather the economic fall-out should the closure occur. 'I have no doubt at all that this would be the biggest problem for us,' Lord West, former head of the Royal Navy and security adviser to Gordon Brown, told the Financial Times. Britain has increasingly relied on gas imports from Qatar since 2010 - increasing the supply by 67 percent - with supply from Norway dropping 17 percent and North Sea supplies shrinking. From August to October last year, the most recent period for which the DECC has data, all the UK’s LNG imports – or 46 percent of its total gas demand – came from Qatar. In February 2011 Centrica, the parent company of British Gas, signed a three-year deal with Qatar for LNG supply over the next three years. There were also hints that a 10-year deal could be agreed. Britain's gas supply is at risk because it buys from such a narrow pool of suppliers and there is no viable export alternative for Qatar than the Strait, which carries a fifth of the world’s oil and one-third of its LNG. A Department of Energy and Climate Change spokesman said: 'We are aware of the importance of Hormuz, both in terms of oil and liquefied natural gas imports to the UK. 'We are therefore working across Whitehall on this issue. Relevant ministers have been briefed. 'We have a variety of potential gas suppliers and energy sources should we need to draw upon them, including pipelines to mainland Europe and Norway, and our own North Sea. 'The UK has access to a wide variety of gas sources and routes, including production from the UK Continental Shelf, imports from Norway and from the Continent, LNG from global markets and gas storage. Britain's gas supply has shifted increasingly towards LPG. It now accounts for around a fifth of UK supply and that reliance is expected to grow. By 2015 the UK is forecast to import about two-thirds of its gas, rising to about 80 percent in 2020. Though a potential closure would have a very heavy impact on Britain's gas supplies it would have less of an impact on the UK's oil supply, with less than one percent arriving by that route. A 2008 report by Lehman Brothers listed the Strait as the world's top 'choke point' for oil supply. (Source: dailymail)
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