Mr Butterworth said: “We’re having a right old battle because everyone thinks gas should be turned off by 2035.
“It means I’m struggling to replace some of the key assets that give us the resilience that we need.”
National Gas is a relatively new company, spun out of National Grid, which once oversaw both the UK gas and electricity transmission networks.
Mr Butterworth said he expected the network to carry natural gas around the UK for decades to come despite the Government’s net zero pledges.
However, he warned that supplies are becoming an increasing concern with the UK’s existing offshore oil and gas fields fast running out. About 180 of the existing 284 active fields will close by 2030, meaning gas supplies will fall 80pc and the UK will be reliant on imports.
He said: “I feel really sad that we’re bringing liquefied natural gas (LNG) from around the world. It has to be frozen into a liquid, the energy is incredible, and then we have to transport it halfway across the world in a boat and then heat it up again.
“But we’ve got gas in the North Sea, on our shores. So it makes me sad that we don’t use the asset we’ve got and that we’d rather bring gas in from somewhere else. We should be grown up enough to understand that exploring importing gas from the North Sea is far less damaging to the environment than bringing LNG and cargoes in from around the world.
“When I talk to the chief executives of the nine other transmission companies around the North Sea they are envious of the energy resources in our territorial waters. The key point is that we need resilience and security of supply. And we’ve still got lots of gas.”
Robert Johnson is a UK-based business writer specializing in finance and entrepreneurship. With an eye for market trends and a keen interest in the corporate world, he offers readers valuable insights into business developments.
