Where Britain's Gas Comes From: UK Fields, Norway and Imports

Britain gets its gas from three main places: its own fields in the North Sea, pipelines from Norway, and shiploads of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from further afield, with smaller pipeline flows from Belgium and the Netherlands. The UK produces about half the gas it consumes, and the rest arrives by pipeline from Norway, as LNG, or through interconnectors¹. That balance has shifted dramatically over two decades: in 2000 the country sourced its gas almost entirely from the North Sea², and since 2004 the majority of supply has come from imports³.

The numbers behind that shift matter to every household with a gas boiler, which is still most of them. Roughly 30 million homes stand in the UK and 85% of them rely on natural gas for heating⁴. Gas made up 35% of total UK energy demand in 2024⁵, and because wholesale gas prices set much of what households pay, the source of that gas and how it is bought shapes bills as much as any government scheme. This page sets out where the gas in your meter actually comes from, how the mix has changed, and what the growing import share means for a home's energy independence.

UK gas output: North Sea supplies in decline

The UK's own gas comes from the UK Continental Shelf, the offshore fields of the North Sea and surrounding waters. On a five-year average, the UK Continental Shelf provides 43% of the UK's gross annual gas supply, the single largest share of any source⁵. Measured against demand rather than gross supply, 37% of the gas used in the UK in 2024 was met by domestic production⁷. The two figures differ because gross supply includes gas that is later exported or used in different ways, but both tell the same story: Britain still produces a great deal of its own gas, but no longer enough to cover what it burns.

The direction of travel is firmly downward. The government's statutory security of supply report projects an annual decline of domestic offshore gas production to continue at a rate of 12% per year⁵. Independent analysis by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit forecasts North Sea gas production falling by 75% by 2035⁸. This is not a temporary dip but the ageing of fields that have been pumped for decades: in 2000 the country sourced its gas almost entirely from the North Sea², and the UK has been a net importer of natural gas since 2004, meaning domestic supplies can no longer meet demand⁶.

For households, the shrinking domestic share has a direct consequence. When less gas comes from UK fields, more must be bought on international markets, where prices are set globally and move with events far beyond British control. The decline also narrows what domestic production can contribute to energy security, a point industry bodies make when arguing that home-grown gas, including natural gas and biomethane, retains a strategic role during the net zero transition⁹.

Where most imported gas comes from: Norway

Norway is the largest single source of imported gas, and by a wide margin. On a five-year average, gas from the Norwegian Continental Shelf provides 35% of the UK's gross annual gas supply⁵. Measured against imports alone, approximately 60% of the UK's natural gas imports come from Norway¹⁰. The physical capacity is large: Great Britain can import around 135 million cubic metres per day from Norway⁵, delivered through pipelines that run under the North Sea directly from Norwegian fields to the UK coast.

The Norwegian share has grown as the UK's own production has fallen. In 2012 the majority of the country's gas came from Norway³. By 2017, gas piped from Norway accounted for 40% of UK supplies¹¹, and in 2018 to date imports from Norway covered a further 39% of UK demand¹¹. More recent analysis puts Norwegian pipeline gas at about a third of UK gas consumption¹. Around half of the UK's crude oil imports also come from Norway¹⁰, making the country Britain's single most important energy trading partner.

The government's own framing of this relationship is that the UK benefits from access to highly diverse and secure sources of gas from the North Sea and reliable import partners like Norway¹². That reliability matters for households: Norwegian pipeline gas flows continuously rather than in cargoes, and it is not exposed to the spot price volatility of the global LNG market in the same way. But it is still a dependence, on a single neighbouring country's fields and export policy, and Norway's own production is a finite resource. The pipelines and interconnectors that carry this gas are covered in more detail on gas pipelines and interconnectors.

LNG shipments from Qatar, the US and Algeria

The remainder of Britain's imported gas arrives by sea, as liquefied natural gas chilled and shipped from producing countries. On a five-year average, LNG shipments make up 21% of the UK's gross annual gas supply⁵, and at present these imports make up only around 15% of the UK's gas¹³. Great Britain has LNG import capacity of 150 million cubic metres per day⁵, spread across terminals that receive, store and regasify the cargoes before feeding them into the national grid.

Qatar dominates this trade. It has accounted for 70 to 97% of LNG volumes imported to the UK since 2005¹¹, and 30% of the UK's gas imports come from Qatar¹⁰. In 2011, 87% of the UK's LNG imports came from Qatar, a concentration one analysis described as "a lot of gas from one place"⁶. The United States and Algeria have also supplied cargoes, and the five countries that account for the vast majority of UK gas imports are Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Qatar and Algeria¹¹.

LNG is the most globally priced part of Britain's supply. Cargoes are traded internationally and can be diverted to whichever market pays most, so when demand rises in Asia or elsewhere, the price the UK must pay to attract a cargo rises with it. This is one reason global events move UK bills, a mechanism explained on how global events move UK energy prices. The terminals themselves, and how they fit into the system, are covered on LNG imports and UK terminals.

Britain's limited and falling reliance on Russian gas

A common worry is that Britain depends on Russian gas. The evidence says the exposure is very small. In 2018 to date, Russian gas accounted for 0.4 percentage points of UK gas supplies, arriving as LNG shipments rather than through any pipeline¹¹. Of the six LNG shipments the UK had received that year, half, three in total, were from Russia¹¹. Russia does not feature among the five countries that supply the vast majority of UK imports¹¹.

The UK's position differs sharply from much of continental Europe in this respect. European countries connected to Russian pipelines faced severe supply shocks when flows were cut, while the UK's exposure was limited to occasional cargoes on the spot market. Some consumer guidance still describes UK gas imports as coming predominantly from Norway but also from Russia¹⁴, reflecting the fact that Russian cargoes have appeared, but the volumes are marginal against the Norwegian, continental and Qatari flows described above.

For a household, the practical point is that the gas in a British boiler is not meaningfully exposed to Russian supply decisions. The price of it, however, is affected by the European market as a whole, because when continental countries scramble for alternative gas, they compete for the same LNG cargoes and pipeline flows that Britain buys. That is how a war elsewhere in Europe reaches a British bill, even when the molecules themselves do not come from Russia.

The journey gas takes to British households

Once gas arrives in Britain, whether from a North Sea platform, a Norwegian pipeline, an interconnector or an LNG terminal, it enters a single system. The gas grid is comprised of a network of gas pipelines across Great Britain⁷, carrying gas from the transmission backbone through regional distribution networks to the street and the meter. Some gas also comes through pipelines under the English Channel from Belgium and the Netherlands, and in a liquid state from Qatar¹⁴. Interconnector pipeline imports from Belgium and the Netherlands, which play a key role in balancing supply and demand on cold winter days, make up 1% of gross annual supply on a five-year average⁵.

The scale of household connection is what makes this network so central to British energy. The gas grid provides energy to more than 80% of homes¹⁵, and 85% of the UK is connected to the gas network¹⁶. Roughly 30 million homes stand in the UK and 85% of them rely on natural gas for heating⁴. In England specifically, around 21.2 million households, 86%, used a gas fired main heating system in 2023-24¹⁷, and earlier government analysis put gas boilers in approximately 23 million dwellings, again 85%¹⁸. A minority heats by other means: 3.9 million homes in Britain were heated by sources other than mains gas¹⁹.

Northern Ireland's gas system is separate, with its own network and supply arrangements, so the figures above describe Great Britain unless stated. For most households the practical reality is simple: the gas in the meter is a blend of everything entering the system that day, and no home can choose which field or country its molecules came from. What a household can control is how much gas it draws, and whether it stays connected at all. The networks that deliver gas to your street are covered on gas distribution networks, and the wider picture of Britain's energy supply on UK energy supply.

Renewable gas from waste already supplying homes

Not all the gas in British pipes comes from under the sea. Biomethane is produced when organic material such as food waste, manure, sewage or crops is broken down²⁰, through a process called anaerobic digestion²¹. It is a low carbon, or even carbon negative, gaseous fuel²¹, and it can be used for heating and cooking exactly like natural gas²⁰. Crucially for households, it is molecularly identical to fossil gas, meaning it can be supplied through existing pipelines and is entirely compatible with existing gas systems used by households, commercial businesses and industrial sites²¹. Biomethane is already being injected into the UK gas grid and used in homes today²².

The sector is already substantial. There are currently 128 biomethane sites connected to the gas grid with the capacity to heat one million homes²³, and other counts put the figure at 130 sites²¹. An industry study found 124 biomethane sites connected with 29 further sites in the connections process, with connected capacity of 10.1 TWh, enough to heat over 840,000 homes, rising to a total of 14.5 TWh and 1.2 million homes once connecting sites are included²⁴. Today's biomethane output is already sufficient to heat around one million homes²².

The climate benefit is measurable. Biomethane saved 1.2 million tonnes of carbon across the country in the last year, the equivalent of taking 923,000 cars off the road²³. With biogenic carbon capture at the production plant, biomethane can even remove more carbon than it emits²². The spent material from biogas production also makes a usable organic fertiliser, lowering emissions further²³. In Scotland, biomethane was the second largest contributor to renewable heat output at 14% in 2019, contributing 147 GWh of the total 2018-19 growth in output of 239 GWh²⁵.

Government support underpins this. The Green Gas Support Scheme supports the generation of biomethane by anaerobic digestion, for injection into the gas grid²⁶. Deployment is particularly advantageous in rural areas, where fewer domestic properties are connected to the main gas network²⁰. At the moment, only 2.5% of the UK's available organic farm waste is used to create biomethane²⁰, leaving a large untapped feedstock. More detail on the sector is on biomethane and green gas in the UK grid.

The share of national gas needs biomethane might meet

To size biomethane's potential, start with the demand it would need to serve. In 2024, gas demand in the UK was 687 terawatt hours (TWh)⁷, and gas made up 35% of total UK energy demand that year⁵. Of that gas demand, 37% was for domestic use, 19% for industry and 26% for electricity generation⁷. Heating our homes accounts for 15% of the UK's total greenhouse gas emissions²⁷, so the domestic slice of gas demand is both large and emissions-heavy.

Against that, current biomethane production is 7 TWh⁹, a small fraction of the 687 TWh total. But the growth projections are striking. Research for the gas networks finds there will be sufficient sustainable feedstock available in this country to generate 50 TWh of biomethane by 2030, and up to 120 TWh by 2050²¹. That 50 TWh represents 14% of the UK's current gas demand²¹. The 120 TWh figure equates to up to 90% of overall demand in 2050, based on a scenario of significantly lower gas demand by then²¹. Producing gas volumes equal to the heating demands of over 10 million homes is described as achievable, with the potential to increase production capacity by at least tenfold by 2050²¹.

The same analysis suggests the government has significantly underestimated the potential biomethane production offers²¹, and industry bodies point to the potential to deliver up to 120 TWh of UK production from sustainable, domestic feedstocks by 2050⁹. Scaling UK biomethane could deliver £156-£218bn in cumulative energy system savings, according to Baringa analysis⁹, and support up to 60,000 skilled jobs by 2030, particularly in rural economies²¹. The National Energy System Operator has positioned biomethane as a whole-system solution that can be deployed now⁹. The government's own production volume target is currently 30 TWh by 2050²⁴, well below the feedstock estimates, and in 2025 the UK gas networks submitted plans for the next regulatory period to connect well over 30 TWh of new biomethane production capacity²¹.

Import reliance: what it means for your energy bills

The core fact is that Britain's import dependence is set to deepen. By 2025, the UK is expected to be importing 67% of its gas from outside the UK²⁸. Independent analysis suggests almost 85% of UK gas demand would be met by net imports by 2035⁸. The UK has been strongly affected by the energy crisis due to its dependence on natural gas for heating, electricity generation and industry²⁹, and government papers describe the country as a net energy importer with a high dependence on gas and oil³⁰. Most heating in the UK is supplied by gas³¹, so this dependence runs directly into every home with a boiler.

What does that mean in practice for a household? Three things. First, price: because imported gas is priced on international markets, events anywhere in the world can raise the wholesale cost of the gas in your boiler, and that cost flows into bills. Second, security: the UK's supply is described by government as diverse and secure, drawing on North Sea production and reliable partners like Norway¹², but diversity does not remove the exposure to a global commodity market. Third, choice: no household can select the origin of its gas. The meter cannot tell a Norwegian molecule from a Qatari one, and a home connected to the grid is connected to the world market.

The routes out of that dependence are the subject of other pages on this site, but the biomethane figures above show one already operating: a domestically produced fuel, made from British waste and crops, flowing through the same pipes and compatible with the same boilers, with the potential to cover a large share of a shrinking future gas demand. Reducing how much gas a home needs at all, through insulation and low-carbon heating, shrinks the exposure fastest. What a household controls is its demand; what it cannot control is where the rest comes from. The wider picture of Britain's energy supply, including electricity, is on UK energy supply, and the question of what homes can genuinely control is explored on energy security and household independence.