For comparison, Germany has 131 GWh of gas – about 44 times more than the UK. Even this level of supply is causing alarm in the country.
David Lewis, of energy market consultancy Wood Mackenzie, said Britain and Europe’s best hope was for a warm winter.
“Low storage levels and continued tightness in the global LNG market leave Europe with little buffer against further supply disruptions or demand spikes,” he said.
“Only under a mild winter scenario do we see scope for prices to fall from current levels. In almost all other scenarios, we would expect higher prices and increased volatility.”
Montel analytics warned that European gas prices could jump by 19pc this winter.
Higher prices mean households and businesses risk even higher bills. Regulator Ofgem announced last week that typical annual household gas and electricity bills will rise by £60 from October, with another increase expected in January. The regulator blamed rising gas prices for the increase.
Natasha Fielding, an analyst at energy consultancy Argus Media, said: “Europe is on course to have its most depleted start-of-winter reserves in 15 years.
“Low storage increases the risk of a really big winter price spike, if Europe gets sustained cold weather or faces other unplanned supply disruptions.”
Britain ‘will lose vital protection’
The UK has always relied on the North Sea to provide supplies of gas through winter, so it has never built much gas storage.
However, Ed Miliband’s ban on exploration, plus Labour’s extension of the windfall tax, means North Sea gas output has plummeted.
Britain has also cut support for its only major gas storage facility, the Centrica-owned Rough field in the North Sea, leaving the UK reliant on shipments of LNG bought on global markets.
A Centrica spokesman confirmed that the Rough storage facility was almost empty and called on Miatta Fahnbulleh, the Energy Secretary, to make a decision about its future.
“Without a decision, Rough will be almost empty by winter and will close early next year. The country will lose vital protection against global energy shocks forever.”
Jean-Paul Harreman, the director of Montel, said the Continent’s failure to fill its storage was “remarkable after a long hot sunny summer when Europe burned far less gas than normal”.
Many countries resisted refilling storage in the hope that the Gulf crisis would come to an end and prices would fall, making it cheaper to stockpile.
Mr Harreman warned that this over-optimism would hit consumers hard. He said: “This has left storage below the EU’s required levels, with member states on track to miss the winter storage targets. Consumers may pay the price.”
