By Nicholas Earl
Ministers are still chasing a mega-deal with Norwegian energy giant Equinor as the UK races to stave off blackouts this winter and shore up its gas supply.
The Government is haggling over the price with Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng raising concerns over the cost of the deal, according to Thec Sun.
Prime Minister Liz Truss is pushing to secure a multi-billion pound 20-year deal to try and secure the country’s energy needs.
However, ant new deal would require extra borrowing, which could further spook markets already rattled by Prime Minister Liz Truss’ tax-cutting and heavy spending agenda.
Truss confirmed last week that Downing Street is weighing up fresh multi-year deals arrangements to reduce its reliance on imports from authoritarian regimes.
The Prime Minister said she wanted to make “we’ve got a good price” but that “energy security is vitally important.”
She said: “We never want to be in a position again where we’re dependent on authoritarian regimes for our energy. That’s why we’re in the situation we are now.”
Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng is still urging caution over the cost of the deal amid historically high gas prices.
If markets settle to conventional levels, even a discount on current rates could still see the UK over-paying by a huge amount if the market settles.
Wholesale costs have quadrupled this year, climbing to all-time highs this summer amid a Russian squeeze on supplies following its invasion of Ukraine.
Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg is still negotiating with Equinor over the cost of the deal.
Earlier this year, Centrica reached a mega deal with Equinor to buy 10bn cubic meters of gas over the next three years.
The country already supplies 42 per cent of the UK’s oil and gas demands, exporting £36.4bn worth of gas to the UK last year.
Meanwhile, the National Gridpublished its winter outlook last week – with its worst-case scenarios predicting three-hour blackouts in January, while its base-case scenarios forecast healthy margins between supply and demand.
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